Serbia is looking forward to Croatia's presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2020 and expects a lot from it, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said at the Western Balkans summit in the Polish city of Poznan on Thursday.

“Serbia is looking forward to and expects a lot from Croatia’s presidency of the EU. We are all family here and it is in our interest to help one another. That is why I think Croatia’s presidency should be in accordance with the interests of the entire region,” Dacic was quoted by Serbian media as saying at the summit, organised as part of the Berlin Process.

Dacic “congratulated Croatia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric on being elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe,” saying that this position is “very important for the region.”

Dacic said that Serbia believes that all countries in the region are friends, that they have similar problems and none of them should gloat over the failures of another, suggesting that the countries in the region should mutually support each other.

“Some people will say that is a new Yugoslavia, but I am not talking about that. I am saying that we have common interests and that it would be better for to discuss them publicly rather than think the same in various waiting rooms without daring to say so,” Dacic said.

He said that conflicts were not in Serbia’s interest and emphasised the need for peace in the region.