Mali: Serbia 2030 aimed at building modern, strong country, EXPO to be pinnacle

BELGRADE - Serbian First Deputy PM and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said on Thursday the Serbia 2030 strategy was a programme aimed at building a modern, strong and successful Serbia for the decades and generations to come, and noted that 2027 would be one of the more important years in Serbia's economic history, with the Belgrade EXPO to be the pinnacle of all achievements to date.

In an article published by Politika, Mali wrote that EXPO 2027 was Serbia's key focus and its main development opportunity and that the event would attract around four million visitors from around the world.

"Next year will be one of the more important years in Serbia's economic history. It is the economic foundation for the next decade, a source of economic strength in years in which that will be the most in-demand resource, the driver of growth that will feed us, our legacy for the future," Mali noted.

Serbia is Europe's third fastest-growing economy, a country that has obtained investment-grade rating for the first time in its history and a country that has finally gained relevance in European statistics, he added.

"We have cured an economic ailment we had battled for too long and, strengthened, we began funding the further bolstering of the Serbian economy, relying on our own forces. For that, we need further growth, whose engine are predominantly investments. Our greatest focus at this time is the EXPO, which is our biggest development chance," Mali said.

He noted that the EXPO would feature more than 135 countries from around the world and that the event would be the pinnacle of all achievements to date and an "impetus after which our goals will be set only higher".

"The symbolic 15 years of our transition from bankruptcy to the EXPO will be just the beginning of a new stage in accelerated development of Serbia, which has demonstrated to Europe a capacity for systemic changes and in-depth rebirth motivated by a desire for better life and greater progress," Mali added.

He noted that ongoing capital investments in 323 projects across Serbia that were worth a total of 17.8 bln euros and included the construction of an EXPO 2027 complex and accompanying infrastructure had resulted in a visible increase of living standards and average monthly wages exceeding 1,000 euros.