Mesarovic: Serbia has significant economic cooperation with BRICS member states

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic said on Thursday Serbia maintained significant economic cooperation with BRICS member states, which she noted accounted for 45 pct of the world's population and 27 pct of the world's gross product.

"There is absolutely a place for Serbia in such markets, too," Mesarovic told RT Balkans.

She said the level of Serbia's economic cooperation with Russia was good and satisfactory but that there was potential for progress.

"We ended last year with (bilateral) external trade totalling 2.7 bln euros, Serbia is the side that has a deficit and we can still do a lot about that. In the first eight months (of 2024), the external trade amounted to 1.5 bln euros, with Russian gas exports certainly dominating the overall trade volume," Mesarovic said.

Serbia is not picking sides between the West and the East, and it is ready to cooperate with all who respect its territorial integrity and sovereignty and all who advocate peace and want to strengthen economic cooperation on solid foundations, she said.

She said Serbia would fight "against imposing sanctions on Russia for as long as it can", being a country that knew how difficult the consequences of sanctions were.

"Pressures do exist, but we will be consistent with an independent policy. Russia respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, Russia has voted against a UN resolution aimed at branding the Serbs as a genocidal nation, and it strongly supports our policy when it comes to Kosovo-Metohija," Mesarovic said.