Vucic and Zelensky Meet at Carpathian Summit in Huta
President Vucic spoke with Ukraine's leader in Huta at the founding summit of the Carpathian Initiative, where new cooperation with Romania and Poland on infrastructure and trade was announced.
Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, spent today, September 18, in the mountain village of Huta in Ukraine, where he took part in the founding summit of the Carpathian Integration Initiative at the invitation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky and his wife Olena welcomed the heads of delegations at the state residence in Huta, and Vucic also held a separate meeting with the summit’s host during the day.
The Carpathian Initiative brings together eight countries: Ukraine, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Serbia. Zelensky first floated the idea for the regional platform over the summer, as a way to involve countries that are not ready to help Ukraine by supplying weapons in cooperation on the economy, security, logistics, tourism and reconstruction instead, with the backing of the European Union. At the open session in Huta, besides Vucic and Zelensky, the speakers included Romanian President Nicusor Dan, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the president of the upper house of the Austrian parliament Christine Schwarz-Fuchs, the first deputy president of the Czech Senate Jiri Drahos, and European Parliament Vice President Nicolae Stefanuta.
What Is the Carpathian Initiative and Why Does It Matter to Serbia?
Just before the summit opened, Vucic told reporters that Serbia has plenty to offer the region, above all in transport connectivity.
“One of the reasons for today’s gathering, and I am attending the Carpathian Integration Initiative summit in Ukraine, is precisely to economically connect the broader Carpathian region,” Vucic said ahead of the summit, adding that Vojvodina and the Branicevo, Bor and Zajecar districts should be brought into that cooperation alongside the participating states.
He said Serbia has a concrete offer on the table for its partners in the region.
“We believe that in transport connectivity, especially with Romania and Hungary, and also with Ukraine and Poland, we truly have a great deal to offer, from railways and roads to more open borders and better cooperation in agriculture and every other field,” the Serbian president said.
According to Vucic, trade between Serbia and Ukraine grew 42 percent in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, while Serbian exports to Ukraine jumped by as much as 80 percent. He specified that the trade is mostly in consumer goods, with far less in raw materials and metals.
Highway to Timisoara and Rail Line to Budapest
On the sidelines of the summit, Vucic held separate bilateral meetings with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Romanian President Nicusor Dan, while Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was absent due to his health. With Tusk, as Vucic reported on Instagram, he discussed peace, stability and Serbia’s place in the European family, as well as closer cooperation between the two countries. “I believe Serbia and Poland can and must cooperate even more closely,” Vucic wrote.
A concrete infrastructure step forward, however, came out of the talks with the Romanian president. Vucic said the construction of a highway through Vrsac to Timisoara was a topic that needed to be discussed specifically with Dan, and that the Romanian president had “significantly moved things forward” on the matter. “I believe we will soon reach the most concrete conclusions on when and how we start building that highway,” Vucic said, adding that the talks also covered linking the two countries’ power transmission systems and further cooperation around the Djerdap hydropower complex.
Vucic also announced that a high-speed rail line between Belgrade and Budapest will open soon, which he said would make it easier to travel on to Bratislava, Vienna and western Ukraine. He added that he expects greater European Union support for infrastructure projects across the wider Carpathian region, though, as he put it, he is not “too big an optimist” on that front compared with some other member states.
This was not the first contact between Vucic and Zelensky this year: the Ukrainian president paid an official visit to Belgrade in August 2026, and the meeting in Huta continues that momentum on the host’s home turf.
Vucic also said that, because of conditions on the European energy market, Serbia will need to draw additional quantities of fuel, above all diesel, from its commodity reserves so that citizens feel price increases as little as possible. “As far as Serbia is concerned, we will do everything we can so that citizens feel as little as possible of the problems facing all of Europe, the whole world,” the Serbian president said.
He is expected to return to Serbia from the summit, where a tour of the country begins tomorrow, September 19, at 7 a.m.
