The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, gave an exclusive interview for "Dnevni Avaz". Brnabić, among other things, responded to the accusations of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdžija, who said that with new measures to enter the country due to the coronavirus pandemic, Serbia introduced "white ribbons" to B&H citizens from the Federation.

Black and white

How do you comment on the accusations that Serbia has introduced "white ribbons" for the citizens of B&H from the Federation?

- What Lagumdžija talks about is absolutely not true. I really don't know what a man is talking about, and it's not fair to say something like that. The regulation has been made public. Anyone can look at it. We do not make any difference between whether someone is from Banja Luka or Sarajevo. There is no discrimination. It never occurred to us that we had any discrimination. The same conditions apply, this is clearly stated in the Regulation. If someone is from B&H, whether from the Federation or the Republic of Srpska, and has the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, he must, of course, be treated differently. Just as each state treats its citizens differently. In that case, they enter Serbia and do not need PCR test. If they do not have a PCR test, they go into self-isolation for ten days. After self-isolation, they are free to move, if they are not infected. Of course, they can do it earlier if they do a PCR test and with a negative result, their self-isolation practically stops. That's it. We do not discriminate, no difference between Sarajevo, Banja Luka or any other city in the Federation or Republic of Srpska. This is really an unnecessary raising of tensions, because everything is black and white.

When do you expect the arrival of coronavirus vaccines?

- The first contingent of "Pfizer" vaccines has just landed in Belgrade, at "Nikola Tesla" airport. That's a smaller amount than what was agreed with Pfizer. But we understand because they have reduced delivery to all the countries with which they have a contract. But, in any case, it is enough for us to start vaccination by the end of this year. The professional part of the Crisis Staff is finishing the immunization plan today (yesterday, op. Cit.), so we will start vaccinating in the coming days. This morning (yesterday morning, op. Cit.) around 4,800 doses of "Pfizer" vaccines landed, which is enough for 2,400 people, and we expect some other vaccines soon. We fight the best we can. I think we are the first country in Europe, if you do not count the United Kingdom, to receive "Pfizer" vaccines.

Key priorities

How much space is there for cooperation with B&H when it comes to the procurement of vaccines?

- We are fully committed to cooperation in terms of our foreign policy. We have two key priorities. The first is membership in the European Union and European integration, and the second is regional cooperation, networking and security. In that sense, we tried to help whoever needed any help and support during this pandemic. On the other hand, we tried to create and strengthen our region in projects such as "Green Corridors".

We will welcome any initiative coming from Sarajevo

How would you assess the cooperation between Serbia and B&H? How much room is there for progress?

- We are certainly interested in better and closer cooperation with B&H, and that is why I am sorry to see such information, such as the one released by Lagumdžija. As the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, I stand by the fact that, whatever initiative comes from Sarajevo, we will warmly welcome it. This is shown by numerous infrastructure projects and these two ends of the highway to Sarajevo, one of which we are building, and for the other project-technical documentation is being prepared. So, anything that can make the region more stable and secure and allow us a better future, compared to what we had, we are open to that.

The best economic result in Europe

The IMF has given great predictions for the Serbian economy for this year ...

- In any case, I do not expect that our economic decline this year will be greater than one percent, and I think that we will still maintain these economic results, ie that we will have the smallest decline in Europe and the best economic result in Europe. When I say that, I do not mean only the GDP, but also the situation in the coffers, that is, what will be the deficit, as well as what will be the outflow of public debt in relation to GDP. We fight every day and keep pushing forward.