27–29 September 2016

​The President of the Serbian Parliament has met with the President of the National Council, Christa Markwalder (FDP, BE), the President of the Council of States, Raphaël Comte (FDP, NE) and the Mayor of Bern, National Council member Alexander Tschäppät (SP, BE) as part of an official working visit to Switzerland. Talks covered bilateral relations between the two countries and current political issues.

Maja Gojkovic was confirmed in office in April of this year as president of the newly elected parliament. A member of the governing Serbian Progressive Party, the lawyer from northern Serbia has chaired the parliament in Belgrade since 2014. The Serbian National Assembly is a unicameral parliament with 250 directly elected members, more than a third of whom are women. This is Ms Gojkovic’s first official visit to the Swiss Parliament as President of the National Assembly.

The delegation was welcomed to Bern by Christa Markwalder, President of the National Council, for talks focusing on bilateral cooperation. Switzerland, for example, supports a project to promote dual-track education in Serbia. Ms Gojkovic stressed that Serbia regards Switzerland as an excellent role model in education matters and hopes that the two countries can work together closely in this area. Ms Gojkovic also discussed education matters along with current political issues during a courtesy visit to Raphaël Comte, President of the Council of States. As a transit country on the West Balkan route, Serbia has been severely affected by the uninterrupted flow of migrants. It has endeavoured to provide the refugees quickly and easily with humanitarian aid. Both sides agreed, however, that a common European solution is essential in order to deal with the current challenges in the long term.

Following the meetings in the Parliament Building, the delegation paid a visit to the Mayor of Bern, Alexander Tschäppät, who is also a member of the National Council. Ms Gojkovic was herself the mayor of the city of Novi Sad from 2004 to 2008. The meeting in the Erlacherhof, the mayor’s official seat, proved highly interesting and productive for all concerned.

Ms Gojkovic’s visit coincided with celebrations for the centenary of the opening of the first Serbian embassy in Bern. Speaking in the course of the festivities, the President of the National Council mentioned the close personal and cultural ties between Serbia and Switzerland. Ms Gojkovic also highlighted their close cooperation and remarked that 100 years is a long time, and indicative of the excellent relations between the two countries.

Serbia and Switzerland do indeed enjoy excellent bilateral relations, not least because of the significant Serbian community in Switzerland, which offers numerous opportunities for exchange, especially on cultural matters. At an international level, the successive OSCE presidencies of Switzerland (2014) and Serbia (2015) have contributed to the active and productive cooperation between the two countries.