VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The governments of Indonesia and Serbia have reached an agreement for mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine certificates issued by both countries as part of the efforts to end vaccine discrimination.

The agreement was reached during a bilateral meeting between Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi and Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovi, according to a press statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received here, Monday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marsudi and her Serbian counterpart, Selakovi, met to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries on Sunday (October 10) in Belgrade, Serbia.

The two ministers also discussed efforts to accelerate economic recovery by increasing economic cooperation, especially inbound and outbound investment.

Apart from discussing vaccination certificates, Minister Marsudi also conveyed that Indonesia had formally announced the nomination of the Archive of the First NAM Conference to the Memory of the World program of UNESCO.

According to the press statement, Serbia supported Indonesia's initiative and will cooperate in seeking support from other countries.

On the occasion, Minister Marsudi and Minister Selakovi also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Diplomatic Capacity Building Cooperation, with the objective of promoting education and training for Indonesian and Serbian diplomats.

The two foreign affairs ministers witnessed the signing of the MoU between Padjadjaran University (Unpad) and the University of Belgrade on Business Incubation and Innovation Cooperation.

According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, through the MoU, the Indonesian government seeks to provide opportunities for Indonesian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to capitalize on market opportunities in Serbia and the Western Balkan region.

Minister Marsudi visited Belgrade as a special envoy for the president to attend the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit.

This momentum is viewed as being valuable for Indonesia and Serbia on account of the fact that the two countries are among those that initiated the establishment of the NAM. (Antaranews)