Washington: Ambassador Đurić organized a business round table

02. Dec 2022.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Washington, Marko Đurić, organized, within the framework of cooperation with the American-Central European Business Association (ACEBA), a business round table to discuss the existing and future modalities of cooperation between the two countries in the economic domain.

Speaking as the host, Ambassador Đurić talked about the priorities of the new Government of Serbia, underlining energy, economy, and the ICT industry as the key sectors.

“We are extremely proud that the information technology sector has for the first time surpassed the previously leading agricultural sector, so we expect to end this year with a record export of ICT services exceeding 2.7 billion euros,” Đurić said.

Explaining that artificial intelligence has an increasing influence in the IT domain, Ambassador Đurić informed that Serbia is the first country in our region to become a member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, which represents a great recognition of our success in this industry.

Speaking about bilateral cooperation with the USA, Ambassador Đurić emphasised the importance of establishing strategic dialogue, as a confirmation of the high level of political relations between the two countries achieved over the last few years through mutual openness and the good standing of our leadership led by President Aleksandar Vučić.

In this sense, he reiterated Serbia’s interest in strengthening mutual trust with members of this Association and improving cooperation on all issues.

“Given that economic cooperation will have an important place in the strategic dialogue with the USA, we hope to use that productive platform to further improve our bilateral relations and to start negotiations on avoiding double taxation, which was unequivocally assessed as an issue of importance for both sides”, Đurić pointed out.

Ambassador Đurić also singled out cooperation in our region as one of the main focuses of the Government, especially in terms of promoting the “Open Balkans” initiative and more active joint presentation of the perspectives of the region as a whole.

In addition to the president of the ACEBA Association, Eric Stewart, the round table participants included Louis Dupuis, director of global business development at Lockheed Martin, as well as representatives of the companies Bechtel, UGTR renewables, Merck, L3 Harris, and others.

The event was held at the premises of the Embassy of Serbia in Washington and is a continuation of a regular practice of holding round tables and meetings established last year, as an additional channel of communication with business entities in the USA and a form of promotion of the economic, technological and investment potential of Serbia.