New Delhi [India], February 15 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar extended warm greetings to the government and people of Serbia on their Statehood Day on Saturday.
In a message shared on X, Jaishankar reaffirmed India's commitment to strengthening long-standing cooperation with Serbia.
"Warm felicitations to FM @markodjuric, the Government and people of Serbia on their Statehood Day. Look forward to further advancement of our long-standing cooperation."
https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/1890677978805219474
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India and Serbia have close and friendly ties. India gives principled support to territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and has not recognized Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Kosovo. Serbia has been supportive of election of Indian candidates in international fora. India and Serbia also share common views on many major global issues.
Serbian people have lot of interest in Indian culture and Mission has been taking initiatives to enhance and deepen its activities. There is also a lot of interest in Serbia on Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore visited Serbia in 1926 and gave two lectures in the Belgrade University, MEA added.
Further, the MEA noted that Serbia has two streets named after Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru with the busts of the two leaders. The streets were named in 1970s and the busts of the leaders installed in late 1990s (Nehru) & 2007 (Mahatma Gandhi), on the occasion of declaration of October 2 as the International Day of Non-violence. Serbia co-sponsored India's Resolutions at UN for declaring October 2 as International Day of Non-violence and June 21 as International Day of Yoga.
Yoga, Ayurveda and Homeopathy are recognized in Serbian law. International Day of Yoga (IDY) has been celebrated every year in the major cities of Serbia.