Geneva: Strengthening economic and investment cooperation between Serbia and Switzerland

The Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Switzerland Goran Bradić expressed thanks to the Director of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services Vincent Subilia and the President of the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce Maja Mićović for the invitation to the conference dedicated to Serbia as a focus country for Swiss businessmen and the afforded opportunity to give estimate of the bilateral relations between the two countries and present the most relevant information on the economic results of Serbia. 

Ambassador Bradić stated that the bilateral relations were stable, dynamic, comprehensive and very good, in both the field of politics and that of economy, science and technology, dual education, energy and other. 

Ambassador Bradić stressed that, despite the pandemic constraints, the exchange of commodity and services in the past two years increased by 16.3% (2021) and 5.4% (2020) respectively and that the volume of trade last year reached a total of 1.3 billion euros.

Ambassador pointed out that the government provided aid to the economy and citizens of Serbia to the total amount of 8.8 billion euros to mitigate the adverse economic effects of the global viral pandemic, whereas the public debt of 52% of GDP remained significantly below the Maastricht criteria. 

Ambassador Bradić stressed that after a record growth of 7.5% during the last year, the Serbia’s economy would continue to grow at significant rates this year and the next. He also stressed that the tendency of attracting foreign direct investment (which in 2021 amounted to 3.9 billion euros) continued. Emphasizing that Serbia's strategic foreign policy goal was full membership in the EU while accelerating the necessary social reform processes and strengthening stability and cooperation with the countries in the region, the ambassador concluded that significant progress had been made in less than three years within the Open Balkans Initiative.

The representatives of several Swiss companies engaged in the food and furniture production as well as in the information and communication services in Serbia talked about their experience and the reasons why they had chosen Serbia for the seat of their business activities. 

The event was also attended by the Head of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Dejan Zlatanović as well as the First Secretary of the Embassy Bojan Stojanović.