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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Diaspora Ministry presents results

Belgrade, 29 October 2008

Serbian Minister for Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic emphasized that the Serbian Diaspora is very important for the country, adding that Serbia annually receives $4.9 billion in Diaspora remittances and this makes up 13.8% of the GDP.

Srdjan Sreckovic

Author: Tanjug

Speaking at a press conference held to present the results achieved by the Ministry during its first 100 days, Sreckovic said that its greatest success was a fundamental change in the Serbian government’s policy towards Serbs living abroad and the efforts made to restore their confidence in their motherland by settling of debts from the bankrupt Beogradska Banka to the Diaspora Fund, a problem dating back to 1999.

He said that one of the Ministry’s priorities is the adoption of laws on the Diaspora which will define the relationship between the state and the Diaspora, regardless of change of government or ruling parties.

Establishing economic links with the Diaspora is an important segment of the Ministry’s work, said Sreckovic, adding that the Ministry has intensified cooperation with all 16 Diaspora centres at regional chambers of commerce, whose function is to inform Serbian business-people abroad about investment opportunities in various regions of Serbia.

According to Sreckovic, the current skilled workforce shortage in Serbia led to a project designed to attract experts back to the country. The project aims to form links between employees in Serbia and young successful people who want to return to their country, he said.

One of the biggest problems faced by Serbs living abroad is the shortage of Serbian language teachers available to them, said the Minister, adding that the Ministry during its first 100 days of work defined a systemic approach to improving Serbian language teaching abroad and took the initiative to take over certain jurisdictions of the Education Ministry concerning financing Serbian language teaching abroad.

He said that several conferences will be held to establish firmer and better links with the Diaspora, including a regional conference on the position and future of Serbian communities in surrounding countries, an international conference on Serbian Diaspora and strengthening the motherland and the International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference.