NATO cancels restrictions over Serbian airspace

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced here on Friday that restrictions over Serbia's airspace had been lifted, marking a new chapter in relations between the military alliance and Serbia.

Stoltenberg arrived in Serbia on Thursday for a two-day visit. where he met with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.

After meeting with Vucic, Stoltenberg announced that the air security zone established since the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 along the administrative line with Kosovo would, as of Friday, be fully relaxed.

"This is a very concrete expression of the improved relationship between NATO and Serbia," Stoltenberg said at a press conference, adding that NATO made the decision based on Serbia's dedication to improving relations with authorities in Kosovo.

In 1999, NATO supported the Kosovo authority and launched a 78-day bombing campaign against former Yugoslavia, forcing the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo.

At the joint lecture with Stoltenberg held at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Vucic said Serbia had to improve relations with NATO due to the new challenges such as terrorism, regional stability and the refugee crisis, and added that the relaxation of the air traffic restriction was of great significance to Serbia.

"Now we have full freedom of flight in upper and lower airspace. Soon we will be allowed to place radars to the south of our country, and for the first time in 16 years we will see our cities of Vranje and Leskovac," Vucic said, explaining that the relaxation would give the country the possibility to control airspace over its central region again, and demonstrate its sovereignty.

Vucic expressed his readiness to cooperate with NATO, despite disagreements over the blame for the 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia and bad relations in the past. Endit