22 June 2022



Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said today, in a meeting with Minister of Tourism of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ahmad Aqil al-Khatib, that our two countries share the same vision of development based on investment in education, innovation and IT sector, which is also a good basis for improving political and economic relations.
Brnabic pointed out that, thanks to investments in the IT sector, Serbia is recognised as a country with great potential in this area and a good destination for investments.
Today, the ICT sector is the largest export branch and has a large share in the country's GDP. Serbia has a good and educated staff, and by introducing programming in primary schools, we are investing in our future, she said, noting that cooperation between the two countries in this field would be of mutual benefit.
Al-Khatib conveyed to the Prime Minister the greetings of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, as well as Saudi Arabia's efforts to improve economic relations and political dialogue.
Emphasising that tourism is the carrier of the economic development of Saudi Arabia, he said that he recognized great potential in Serbia for the development of this economic branch, which would enable the creation of new jobs and economic development of the country in the future.
According to him, the exchange of knowledge and experiences between the two countries and cooperation in this area would be mutually beneficial for our citizens.
President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Cadez, who attended the meeting, pointed out that the business community is an important entity in the development of relations, while he recognized agriculture as one of the pillars of cooperation between businessmen of the two countries.
The officials also discussed the increase of trade exchange, as well as the possibilities for joint infrastructure projects.
The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the political dialogue between the two countries will intensify in the future and reiterated the invitation to the Saudi king and heir to the throne to visit Serbia.


 

7 February 2022

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic attended today in Geneva the signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Serbia, the first of its kind in the Western Balkans.
The agreement was signed at the headquarters of that forum by Director of the Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment Mihailo Jovanovic and Managing Director and Head of the Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Jeremy Jurgens.
The centre in Serbia will be the 16th in the network of centres of the World Economic Forum in the world and the first in the region of the Western Balkans.
The new centre will start operating on 1 March and will function as a non-profit organisation and a platform for public-private partnership and cooperation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while the focus of work will be on artificial intelligence and bioengineering.
This centre will work within the Serbian government’s Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment and will cooperate with scientific institutes, state institutions and the private sector.
The signing of this document was also attended by founder and Executive Director of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab and President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende, with whom Brnabic had previously met.
Addressing the press, Brnabic pointed out that this agreement is the result of many years of joint work between Serbia and the World Economic Forum.
We started talking in 2018, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, then 2020 hampered us a bit, but we continued to plan in 2021 and here we are today, she said.
According to her, the centre will be focused on the development of artificial intelligence, biomedicine and biotechnology, and on the ways in which digitalisation can raise the productivity of companies and the entire economy.
This is what further leads to higher salaries, a better standard of living, as well as to an economy that is mainly based on knowledge, creativity and innovation, Brnabic emphasised.
Today, we have received great recognition for everything that Serbia has done in the field of digitalisation, development of high technologies and paradigm shift – from an economy that was based on labour-intensive investments to digital development.
That is why this agreement shows that Serbia has been recognised as one of the leaders in the economy and IT industry in the last six years, the Prime Minister pointed out and assessed that this is the announcement of the beginning of an even closer cooperation between Serbia and WEF.
She added that they will have a joint meeting with the 16 WEF centres for the fourth industrial revolution in the world every month, at which they will talk about what each of them is doing, since each has a different focus.
That is how we will hear what everyone is doing every month, learn from each other and I am sure that the centre in Belgrade will be one of the best, the Prime Minister said.
According to her, this gives us visibility, the opportunity to further establish Serbia as an investment destination, a country good for living and investing in new technologies and knowledge.
Jovanovic said that the ecosystem formed around the centre will use the infrastructure of the National Platform for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, the Centre for Genome Sequencing and the future bioeconomic centre – BIO4 Campus.
Izvor/Foto: Tanjug

 

27. Jan 2022.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic met today with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a non-residential basis, Osamah Dakhel R. Al Ahmadi.
In the conversation, Minister Selaković reminded that Serbia and Saudi Arabia will mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations next year, emphasizing that it would be a great opportunity for the country to open an embassy in Belgrade, bearing in mind that Serbia already has a diplomatic mission in Riyadh.
Selakovic assessed that the two countries had plenty of untapped potential for the promotion of bilateral cooperation, both at the political level and in the field of economy.
According to the Head of Serbian diplomacy, a visit to Serbia by representatives of the royal family, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, would be a cornerstone for further enhancing the relations between the two countries.
Minister Selakovic took the opportunity to extend an invitation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, for a bilateral visit to Serbia, noting that it would be very useful for the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs to establish the practice of regular annual political consultations.
Selakovic expressed special satisfaction with the fact that Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud had visited Belgrade in October last year and participated in the Commemorative Event on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the First Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Significant attention at the meeting was paid to the opportunities for intensifying economic cooperation by encouraging trade and investment, as well as the possibility of changing the visa regime.