During Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Belgrade, his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, said that a free trade deal will be agreed ‘as soon as possible’.
During a visit to Belgrade by his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, on Wednesday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the two countries are planning to establish a free trade agreement soon.
“It is extremely important for us to conclude a free trade agreement with the state of Israel as soon as possible. We believe that it will be to our mutual benefit and I am confident that we can get the job done much faster than normal procedures would dictate,” Vucic told a press conference.
“It should be the main priority, to achieve a free trade agreement, for the benefit of both peoples and to achieve success together,” Herzog told a discussion event after the press conference
Vucic said they had also talked about improving relations on technology and artificial intelligence, AI. There is “huge space for cooperation” in areas such as scientific and technological cooperation, in further attracting Israeli investments but also in the field of cyber security, “which we have discussed many times with Israeli officials”, he added.
Both domestic and international organisations monitoring surveillance say Serbia has a track record of using various types of software produced by Israeli companies for surveillance of anti-government activists among others.
In 2020 Serbia’s Security Information Agency was listed among users of the software of the Israeli company Circles, which enables the user to locate every phone in the country in seconds.
Both Herzog and Vucic urged the release of Alon Ohel, who has dual Israeli and Serbian citizenship and has been held hostage by Hamas since its attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
Herzog thanked Vucic for his condemnation of the Hamas attack in October 2023. Serbia has mostly been silent about the war in Gaza that followed, and about the mass atrocities reported by international organisations.
A BIRN investigation showed that Serbia’s main state-owned arms trader, Yugoimport-SDPR, exported arms and/or ammunition worth just over 7.3 million euros to Israel in July, bringing the total value of Serbian arms and ammunition exports to the country in 2024 to 23.1 million euros.
The exports come amid ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 90,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Israel is also involved an ongoing conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which further fuels its need for arms.
Aleksandar Vucic (right) and Isaac Herzog in Belgrade, September 11 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC.
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