Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday that he had started talks with his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, on a new railway corridor to connect Thessaloniki and Belgrade.
At the Serbian-Greek business conference in Belgrade, Tsipras said the agreement had been made to establish a council to boost cooperation between Serbia and Greece, expected to hold its first session this coming spring, in Thessaloniki.
“I believe that economic, political and religious relations must constitute the foundation of a new economic architecture in the Balkans. The vision of the new architecture should improve the standard of living and expand economic cooperation,” Tsipras said in his speech.
The Greek PM added that Serbia and Greece shared the same values, describing the two states as the major links in economic cooperation in the Balkans.
“I believe that our potentials exceed our achievements,” the prime minister said, stressing that there was room for more active cooperation in the energy sector, transportation, construction, the financial sector and processing industry.
Serbian Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic stressed that, in addition to incentives, Serbia was offering Greek investors free zones for doing business, which were customs-free for imported equipment and raw materials.
He added that at this time there were 167 companies ready for privatization, including 11 spas, the RTB Bor mine and smelter, Novi Sad port, Azotara and others.
Serbian Chamber of Commerce President Marko Cadez said that since the last Greek-Serbian forum two months ago a total of 20 contracts had been signed between businesspeople from both countries.
An agreement on cooperation in the area of meat and cured meat products was signed by Serbia’s Carnex company and Greek Creta on Jan 31.
