Serbia defends attendance at Gaddafi anniversary

Sep 1, 2009, 9:28 GMT

Belgrade - Aides to Serbian President Boris Tadic have defended his attendance at an event in Libya commemorating the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moamer Gaddafi to power in Libya, Serbian dailies reported Tuesday.

Tadic was be present at a military parade Tuesday in honour of Gaddafi, with 26 members of Serbian army participating.

Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac was also on the trip, along with 40 African heads of state and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

'Good relations with Libya, especially economic and military, are important,' the office of the Serbian president told the daily Blic.

'Serbia appreciates the fact that Libya, as one of strongest Muslim countries in the world, did not recognize the independence of Kosovo and therefore supports the territorial integrity of Serbia.'

'Also, in the Non-Aligned Movement, Serbia has had the best relations with Libya,' representatives of Tadic added. Serbia now has observer status in the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of states not formally aligned with any major power.

Tadic's trip to Libya comes just days after he said that the European Union, Russia, China and United States were the 'four pillars' of Serbia's foreign policy.

He recently returned from China, where he signed agreements on a 'strategic partnership' with Chinese authorities.

Italian president Silvio Berlusconi visited Libya on Sunday, but did not stay for the anniversary events which began Tuesday.

Russian media rejected reports that President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would attend.