Brnabic: Serbia must start initiative for OECD membership

PARIS - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic said on Tuesday in Paris not many countries were on par with Serbia in terms of progress in digitalisation and noted that, for that reason, Serbia should launch an initiative to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to boost its market visibility and attractiveness for foreign investments.

Speaking to reporters, Brnabic said she had discussed the topic with OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann earlier in the day.

"It is a topic I will also discuss with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali. I think we need to start the procedure of joining the OECD," Brnabic said.

She noted that the OECD recognised the degree of progress made by Serbia in digitalisation and innovation, and recalled that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation had named Serbia one of the top most innovative countries that had utilised technology to make life easier for citizens during the pandemic.

Two months ago, Serbia joined the OECD group for e-government and last week it became a full member of the Global Partnership for Artificial Intelligence initiative, Brnabic added.