President Mahmoud Abbas with visiting Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic. WAFA photo by Thayer Aghanym. 

BETHLEHEM, January 6, 2017 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas met Friday with visiting Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic in Bethlehem and the two leaders discussed mutual relations and the latest developments in Palestine.

President Abbas stressed to Dacic the importance of the upcoming Paris international peace conference, scheduled for January 15, urging an international backing because the conference is a real opportunity to salvage the peace process.

Abbas also stressed the importance of developing mutual relations with Serbia for the benefit of both peoples.

Dacic reiterated his country’s support for the two-state solution and said his country looks forward to developing cooperation with Palestine on all levels.

The Serbian foreign minister earlier met with his Palestinian counterpart Riyad Malki, also in Bethlehem where the Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas based on the eastern calendar.

The two officials discussed mutual relations and the importance of developing this relationship in all areas.

Malki recalled how his visit to Serbia in June 2015 and the opening of the embassy of Palestine in Belgrade had led to better relations between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Malki briefed his Serbian counterpart on the latest political developments in Palestine and preparations for the international peace conference in Paris.

He referred to absence of positive signs from Israel and efforts to abort international efforts to make the Paris conference a success, as well as racist and irrational statements by Israeli officials.

He said statements by US President-elect Donald Trump regarding moving the US embassy to Jerusalem are “dangerous.”

M.K.