30 March 2021

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selakovic said today that bilateral economic cooperation between Serbia and Czechia was based on a developed trade in goods and growing Czech investments, pointing out that the pandemic did not significantly affect the total volume of trade in goods.

"In the last three years, the total trade in goods amounted to over one billion euros, while recording constant growth", Selakovic said today at the opening of the Serbian-Czech Business Forum.

Selakovic underlined that the Czech Republic and Czech entrepreneurs were traditional investors in the Serbian economy and pointed out that he was convinced that there was still a lot of room to strengthen the cooperation further.

The Minister stated that according to the data of the Business Registers Agency, as of 8 March 2021, 219 active business entities were registered on the territory of our country whose majority owners are Czech citizens.

Speaking about the numerous successful investments from the Czech Republic, the Minister underlined companies "Avia Prime" which purchased "Jat Tehnika", "Sebre Holding" which acquired construction land at the Marina Dorcol locality in Belgrade, the Czech "PPF Group" investment group which took over "Telenor" company and 100% ownership of "Telenor Banka a.d. Beograd", the company "Matoni 1873" - the largest Czech producer and distributor of soft drinks in Central Europe, which together with "PepsiCo" company bought the Serbian company "Knjaz Milos".

The Minister also pointed out the potentials for a greater presence of Czech investors in the field of spa tourism, underlining cooperation in the field of wine industry and export of Serbian wines as one of the most important topics of today's event and the discussions with Czech businessmen.

Selakovic underlined in particular the export strategy of the Czech Republic, according to which our country is on the list of 12 priority countries for Czech investments, as well as the strategy aimed at outsourcing primarily export-oriented production to other countries. In this connection, he specifically stressed that the holding of the 13th regular session of the Joint Committee in Prague, later this year, would contribute to bringing Serbia and Czechia closer together in the fields of economy and business.

At today's Forum, the Serbian Foreign Minister also presented the basic macroeconomic parameters of Serbia, according to which Covid-19 and the world slowing down affected Serbia less than other European countries owing to the macroeconomic and financial stability we achieved, previous growth dynamic, fiscal environment created, timely and comprehensive package of measures, the level of health care system and the structure of our economy.

"According to the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Serbia recorded a 1.0% negative GDP growth in 2020, and we expect GDP growth in 2021 to range from 5.0% to 6.0%", Selakovic emphasized and added that the adopted economic policy measures managed to limit the effects of the crisis and minimize the economic downturn.

Selakovic also stated that macroeconomic stabilization and improvement of the business environment contributed to a high inflow of foreign direct investments amounting to EUR 10.3 billion in the 2018-2020 period, of which in 2020 alone the inflow of foreign direct investments amounted to EUR 3.0 billion. Furthermore, he pointed out that a record current account surplus of around EUR 250 million was noted in January, with a continued high inflow of foreign direct investments (EUR 232 million).

Selakovic opened the Business Forum together with his Czech counterpart Tomáš Petříček, and took the opportunity to thank the Minister and the delegation of Czech businessmen for the visit, expressing his belief that this visit would contribute to the further strengthening of dialogue and cooperation in areas of common interest.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Tomáš Petříček said that it was his great honour to have the opportunity to attend this event organized amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing the participants in the event, he underlined as very important that the trade in goods achieved last year amounted to EUR 1.2 billion, taking into account that, in addition to the difficult health situation, 2020 was a very difficult year for the whole world in terms of economy.

Petříček expressed hope that businessmen from both countries would find their future partners at today's forum and thus increase profits.

Today's forum was organized by the Serbian and Czech Chambers of Commerce, with participation of 17 companies from Czechia and 23 from Serbia.