Slovakia sign agreement on settling Serbia's debt

Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini during a visit to Serbia on Thursday signed an international agreement with his Serbian counterpart Ana Brnabic on settling her country's debt towards Slovakia worth $7.21 million. The debt emerged in the early 1990s as a balance on a clearing account between former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. After the signing of the international agreement on settling the debt, it can be stated that all open issues between the two countries have been resolved, said Pellegrini. He added that the entire amount would be allocated for support to the Slovak ethnic minority living in Serbia. The original amount of Serbia's debt was $24.7 million, but Slovakia, acting under an agreement of the Paris Club, forgave a larger part of the debt. Describing the debt-settling agreement as proof of Serbia's trustworthiness, Brnabic went on to praise Slovak-Serbian relations: "We don't have many such partners and friends".