The Serbian economy is an important driver of the development of economies in the Western Balkans, and Germany is one of the most important economic partners of Serbia on the territory of Europe, said today the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Dragan Stevanovic.
At the online conference “Green Industrial Policy”, Stevanovic stated that last year, exports to Germany were worth 2.2 billion euros, while imports were worth 3.12 billion euros.
Stevanovic reminded that in 2019 there was a significant jump in exchange with Germany, and that in 2020 that trend was almost maintained. As he said, from 2010 until today, the inflow of investments from Germany exceeded 1.6 billion euros, and from 2007 to 2020, the Ministry of Economy concluded 38 agreements on the allocation of incentive funds for investment projects from Germany.
Stevanovic pointed out that the realization of 38 projects will invest 658 million euros, which will employ 16,700 workers, and that Serbia has set aside just under 130 million euros for incentives.
He reminded his interlocutors within the conference organized by the German-Serbian initiative for sustainable growth and employment that the Serbian economy during the pandemic in 2020 had a smaller fall in GDP than the surrounding countries and the importance of some EU countries.
“I think that in this way we have given the strongest support to strengthening democratic rights in Serbia by preserving jobs, securing new jobs, preserving our economy, and positioning Serbia on the roof not only of the Balkans, but also of Europe,” said the state secretary.
Acceleration of economic activity
Stevanovic pointed out that in the first quarter of 2021, economic activities in Serbia were significantly accelerated, and that with the achieved economic growth of 1.2 percent, the pre-crisis level was reached. He emphasized that the volume of production in the processing industry increased in the first quarter in 17 out of 24 branches, ie activities.
Speaking about the strategy of industrial policy of Serbia until 2030 and the action plan until 2023, he said that efforts are being made to create a focused, better coordinated policy for the development of industry, as well as to improve the efficiency of instruments for its implementation.
“We need to increase investments, and improve their quality, by investing in medium and high technologies,” he pointed out.
Stevanovic said that the principle of smart specialization was adopted, ie that our strategy accepted the principles of the EU, where the focus is on strengthening human resources, digitalization, innovation, investments and the circular economy.
“The activities of our action plan are aimed at harmonization with the new documents of the EU’s industrial policy, and with the newly created economic situation caused by Covid,” Stevanovic said.
He added that the measures and activities of the action plan focused on digitalization, the circular economy, which are the most important processes in the industrial policy of Serbia and the EU.
He assessed that Serbia is slowly entering the sphere of capital-intensive sectors, and added that our investments speak for themselves and our investments, their character and intensity speak in favor of that
“Serbia will strive to make a strong contribution to the creation of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 in the coming period, but also to the fulfillment of the green agenda for the Western Balkans,” he said.
In the dialogue with the economy, as he pointed out, the biggest problems on this path are the obsolescence of technologies, losses in the flow of raw materials and products, inadequate waste and wastewater management, insufficient use of renewable energy sources and underdeveloped awareness in the industrial sector, Euro News reports.
