The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Nikola Selaković, handed over 20,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccine against the corona virus in Beirut today, the first part of the aid of 40,000 vaccines that Serbia will donate to Lebanon.

"On the first day of my official visit to Lebanon, on behalf of the Government of Serbia and the Republic of Serbia, we handed over to our Lebanese friends the donation of the first 20,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19", said Minister Selaković. The donation of Serbia was received by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon, Zeina Akar, who expressed gratitude for the donation, and informed the head of Serbian diplomacy about the epidemiological situation in that Middle Eastern country.

Today, on the first day of his official visit to Lebanon, the head of Serbian diplomacy also met separately with the President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun, and the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Hassan Diab. Selaković said that at all meetings, Lebanese officials expressed great gratitude to President Aleksandar Vučić, the Government of Serbia, the Republic of Serbia and its citizens for the selfless help we provided with the donation of vaccines, but also for the decision to donate 45 tons of food products to the Lebanese people.

"The people of Lebanon are in a not so simple, but rather challenging situation, one of the most difficult situations since the creation of the Republic of Lebanon", said Minister Selaković. Minister Selaković pointed out that at the meetings, other types of assistance that Serbia could possibly provide to friendly Lebanon were also discussed, as well as various types of improvement of our bilateral cooperation, not only in the field of cooperation between the two foreign ministries, but especially in the field of economy.

"We talked about any Serbian experiences that could serve the people of Lebanon and the Republic of Lebanon, in terms of the economic recovery that this country longs for", Selaković said.

The head of Serbian diplomacy emphasized that Lebanese officials were especially interested in the economic successes of Serbia and everything that has been done in Serbia, especially since 2014 in the field of fiscal consolidation, economic recovery, reindustrialization of the country, serious travel infrastructure construction, but also social, health and educational infrastructure, as well as the key to the success in the fight of Serbia against the corona virus pandemic.

Selaković said that Lebanese officials expressed strong and principled support for the positions of the Republic of Serbia on the issue of protection of our territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as support for the continuation of the dialogue in seeking a solution for Kosovo and Metohija.

He added that they expressed great satisfaction with the fact that in October this year, 60 years after the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, Belgrade will once again host dozens of heads of state, government and foreign ministers who will come to our capital from all over the world. Selaković thanked Lebanese officials for their principled and active support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and handed over an invitation letter to participate in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade.

The head of Serbian diplomacy will be on the official visit to the Lebanese Republic tomorrow as well, and he will meet, among others, with the UNIFIL commander, Major General Stefano Del Col, and will visit members of the Serbian Army in the UN mission in Lebanon.