Serbia and Hungary are pursuing a policy of connecting people and economies, and the opening of the new Rabe-Kübekháza border crossing, in the tri-border area with Romania, will allow for the development of a kind of "diplomacy of people", Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović has said today.
At the ceremonial opening of the border crossing, Joksimović has stressed that there is no doubt that this is done because both Serbia and Hungary, above all, pursue foreign and national policies in the interest of their citizens, i.e. the local development policy.
"This is the reason and the governing policy - the diplomacy of people and the diplomacy of connecting economies," Joksimović has emphasized.
She has stressed that Serbia and Hungary have shown how much importance they attach to mutual partnership and cooperation, and has expressed her gratitude to Hungarian Minister Péter Szijjártó, as well as to the entire Hungarian government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for the loud and courageous support they provide to the EU enlargement policy, and especially to Serbia as an EU candidate country, sometimes even contrary to established practice.
"I have attended the opening of the chapters in the EU negotiation process numerous times, and the only minister who always comes to support Serbia, with his personal presence and positive and affirmative messages, is Szijjártó," Joksimović has said, adding that this speaks more than anything about how the two countries have succeeded in transforming their relations into a strategic partnership that benefits their citizens.
The Minister has pointed out that the establishment of the Rabe-Kübekháza border crossing has been financed from EU pre-accession funds, under the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Hungary–Serbia, whose local self-governments, according to her, have intensively worked on the implementation of that project.
"There was not one meeting that Szijjártó and I have held without mentioning this topic," Joksimović has added.
She has recalled that it previously took a long time for pedestrians to cross through the tri-border area between Serbia, Hungary and Romania, within the Danube–Kris–Mures–Tisa region, where traditional meetings have been held every May for more than 20 years, and that a temporary border crossing was always opened on this occasion for citizens to visit their friends and relatives in the neighbouring countries.
"Today, we are opening a permanent border crossing, which will result in our citizens and countries realising the diplomacy of people in a more accelerate manner. This is the most important thing that we will continue to work on in the future,” Joksimović has stressed.
She has added that several other important projects with Hungary are being implemented, and has invited the local self-governments of both countries to intensively work on all projects that are important for connecting people, as well as for economic, social, cultural and any other types of connectivity.
She has expressed her satisfaction at the fact that this not-so-easy project has been realized in a concrete way, owing to goodwill and politically good intentions.
"I hope that Hungary will continue to support Serbia's European integration process, and that the Enlargement Commissioner will still be appointed from that country. That would mean a lot to us," Joksimović has concluded.
Source: Tanjug
