Serbia is interested in developing innovation-driven cooperation with Belarusian companies, Serbian Minister Nenad Popović told the media following the 13th meeting of the Belarusian-Serbian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, BelTA has learned.
Nenad Popović noted that the commission worked in a highly constructive and businesslike atmosphere. “Yesterday we held a meeting of the working groups and reviewed the results of our cooperation over the past years. Admittedly, we have not fully achieved what we had planned, primarily due to the European Union’s economic sanctions against Belarus, which have complicated logistics and the transportation of many types of goods. Nevertheless, we will do our utmost to ensure that as many Belarusian products as possible find their way onto the shelves of Serbian stores. I am confident that we will be able to improve our results to bring them in line with the level that our industries are capable of delivering,” he emphasized.
Nenad Popović identified cooperation between companies working in innovation, new technologies, digitalization, robotics, and artificial intelligence as the greatest potential for collaboration between the two countries. “Both in Serbia and in Belarus, we have exceptional engineers. These are young people with great potential who are creating new companies and launching startups. Together, we can collaborate and enter third markets: the US, Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe. I am confident that we will see significant results in this area in the future. Our talented young engineers are a huge resource, and by joining forces, they can work together effectively and break into new markets,” he said.
The minister also sees potential for Belarusian-Serbian cooperation in agriculture and the food industry. “The food industry is exceptionally developed in both Serbia and Belarus, particularly the dairy sector. Belarusian dairy products are in high demand on the Serbian market. They truly deserve a place in every store. On the other hand, our seeds are in exceptional demand in Belarus. In addition to agriculture, I would also highlight sectors such as mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. We visited MAZ and saw their outstanding production of buses and automotive vehicles. I must particularly note the high production culture at MAZ. I have visited similar factories and plants in various countries, but it is rare to see such a high level of production culture,” Nenad Popović noted.
He recalled that yesterday marked the 85th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War. “Yesterday, we laid wreaths together at the Trostenets memorial complex. We stood together, just as our grandfathers stood together 85 years ago. Serbia, Russia, and Belarus defeated Nazism and fascism together. We defeated them and their allies together. And today, we commemorate this together as well. We will not allow history to be rewritten, with victims and executioners swapping places,” he said.
The minister expressed immense gratitude to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko for his heroic act in 1999. “He, risking his own life and the lives of his staff, flew to Serbia [the Belarusian leader visited Yugoslavia on 14 April 1999, while the country was under constant NATO bombardment] wishing to support brotherly Serbia during the NATO bombings. We have information that NATO considered the possibility of shooting down his plane. He was not afraid; he showed exceptional courage and flew in at that most difficult time for brotherly Serbia to offer his support, to meet with the president, and to speak with ordinary people. Thanks to that invaluable support, the Serbian people held on, and we did not lose that struggle against NATO. The Serbian people love Aleksandr Lukashenko, and his name will be written in large letters in the history of the Serbian nation,” Nenad Popović said.
Within the framework of the intergovernmental commission, a number of documents were signed. These included a protocol of the meeting, an action plan for the development of trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and Serbia for 2026-2028, memorandums of understanding between the National Agency for Investment and Privatization and the Development Agency of Serbia and between the State Committee for Standardization and the Institute for Standardization of Serbia.
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