Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković called on Portuguese business community to promote trade with Serbia and invest in the country on Tuesday evening.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister Paulo Portas underlined that the European project can hardly be completed without the countries of the western Balkans, and commended Serbia for its achievements on the EU pathway.
Presenting the business climate in Serbia, Cvetković stated in the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Serbia’s advantages are its macroeconomic stability with strong commitment to the EU, trained and affordable workforce, favorable tax regime, incentives for investors and satisfactory infrastructure.
The prime minister underlined that Serbia is an EU-oriented country undergoing great political and economic reforms, which means that the Portuguese investors would find a similar environment to the one they have in their own country.
According to him, Serbia has made a considerable progress in the EU integration process and it expects to get the EU candidate status by the end of the year and a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks.
The Serbian prime minister said that potential areas for cooperation with the Portuguese comprise: agriculture, food industry, energy sector, ecology and infrastructure.
Portas expressed belief that once Serbia gets closer to the EU, the bilateral ties will be stronger in all areas including economy.
Portas said that the trade between the two countries is still poor, but that it has expanded year by year.
The meeting in the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also attended by EU ambassadors in Portugal.
Cvetković conferred with Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva on Tuesday and asked for Portugal’s support to the continuation of Serbia’s European integration, stressing Serbia’s commitment to the further development of bilateral cooperation, especially in the field of economy.
The prime ministervwill arrive on Thursday on a two-day visit to Spain, with the aim of improving the political and economic relations with that country.
On the first day of the visit to Madrid, Cvetković will meet with Spanish King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Serbian government released in a statement.
Cvetković is also due to open a Spanish-Serbian business meeting.
On Friday, the Serbian prime minister will hold a lecture at Nueva Economia Forum, Spain’s leading debating organization.
Source b92.net
