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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Necessary step forward in digitalisation, education

Belgrade, 20 September 2017

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said today that our country must make significant progress in digitalisation and education, stating that there are potentials that need to be exploited.

Opening the meeting themed "Industrial Policy and Digitization in Serbia", she pointed out that if the Serbian government failed to make a significant step, then we would lose time for our entire country and for all our citizens.

Serbia will lose its competitiveness with other countries of Europe and the world, and it is our great responsibility to take full advantage of all potentials, the Prime Minister pointed out.

Our greatest potential are fantastic young people who are well-educated and capable and have their own innovative companies, but also faculties that are able to bring Serbia closer to the most developed countries in the EU.

We have today an IT industry that is growing faster than any other industry, at a rate is 10% a year, and only software production grows at a rate of 20%, Brnabic said, adding that this will help Serbia to have economic development on the basis of innovation, rather than just an investment.

The Prime Minister said that Serbia will join the most advanced countries of modern society, which means that our country will not be a place of cheap labour and a place where just textile and socks are produced.

Serbia will be a country of young and creative people, where we will have growth on the sale of finished products, software and smart solutions, she said.

The conference was also attended by Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Serbia Axel Dittmann, whom the Prime Minister expressed gratitude for the assistance provided to Serbia in implementing the reforms.

Dittmann stressed that Serbia and Germany intensively work together in many areas, and reminded that yesterday an agreement was signed between the two governments on the basis of which concrete projects will be financed with more than €40 million.

He also reminded that Germany is the largest bilateral donor of Serbia and has donated more than €1.7 billion since 2000.

It is important that we are encouraging reforms in Serbia, its development and progress towards the EU. One of the central areas is the German-Serbian initiative for development and employment, the Ambassador said.

He said that Germany had an initiative to improve vocational education and to cooperate with Serbia in the field of economic development, and pointed out that at the initiative of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, while he was prime minister, a fund for improving the startup companies was established.

Dittmann said that Serbia and Germany can cooperate in the field of industrial policy and digitalisation, with the assessment that Serbia has great potential in educated and young people.