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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

State has shown that it can deal with crises

Kopaonik, 8 March 2023

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said today, at the closing of the Kopaonik Business Forum, that the situation in the world is increasingly complex, but that Serbia has shown that it knows how to deal with crises.

Brnabic pointed out that behind there is the hard work of the state to support citizens and develop measures to keep employment rate, noting that during the coronavirus pandemic, Serbia was one of the countries where employment did not decrease, but even increased.

She assessed that the state policy at the moment is the best possible for our country, yet very difficult.

We defend our policy with arguments, international law, the UN Charter, international order, the things that happened to us, the aggression against the FRY, the attempt to seize part of our territory, Brnabic said and added that Serbia must be treated as a specific case.

As much as some doubt whether we will keep the course, we are keeping it with the arguments we have. I am not sure how long we will be able to manage, but every day matters, the Prime Minister pointed out.

She said that every day spent on the European road makes Serbia stronger and better and that the EU is our strategic priority and focus.

Regardless of when we will enter the EU, we should go about our business and do things that are in the interest of our citizens, which is the European way, the Prime Minister emphasised, adding that from 2000 until now, 70 percent of investments in our country came from the EU, while 65 percent of our exports go to EU countries.

According to data from December 2022, as she pointed out, companies from the EU directly employ 281,600 people in Serbia.

The Prime Minister also pointed out that the government's priorities in 2023, in terms of further partnerships, are work on achieving three basic agreements on free trade with China, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

She said that the agreement on free trade with China should be reached by the end of the year and added that it will be of great importance for cooperation with that country.

This is our priority at the moment and we believe that it will open up additional space for trade exchange and exchange of services, but also for the influx of new technologies into Serbia, with a special focus on artificial intelligence, the Prime Minister stated.

Brnabic noted that our exports to China have jumped as much as 153 times in the last 10 years, and that in 2022 they will reach €1.1 billion, which makes China a very important partner of Serbia.

Brnabic said that one of the government's priorities is a new energy policy, without which there is no new growth and development, announcing that in this field, regardless of the lag in relation to other countries, things will happen much faster than we expect.

The portfolio we have at the moment is some €12 billion of investments, where the point is not only on environmental protection, although that is the most important, but to show that we are a responsible country, the Prime Minister said and emphasised that this is part of the entire transformation of society and economy.

She reminded that the ICT sector is Serbia's huge potential, and that now these opportunities are expanding to biotechnology and artificial intelligence, which can make up for lost time.

Brnabic pointed out that our country is also thinking about master's programs 4.0 in the field of biotechnology, especially since the one in the field of gaming was successfully implemented.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the new environment created in Serbia is also confirmed by the number of issued permits for foreigners, which in 2012 was slightly less than 3,000, and today is 35,000, adding that January and February show that this number will continue this year as well.