Mali meets with UK's ambassador to Serbia

BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy PM and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali met with the UK's Ambassador to Belgrade Edward Ferguson on Thursday to discuss opportunities for further development of bilateral cooperation.

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance said Mali had noted the cooperation was good and that the UK was a good partner in projects it was involved in, and that there was no bad news on projects.

He said EXPO 2027, to be hosted by Serbia, was a major opportunity the country would seize in the coming years.

He noted that other projects, such as the construction of the Smile of Vojvodina expressway, the Morava Corridor, a Kragujevac bypass road and a Belgrade-Zrenjanin motorway, had been launched, too, and that works to build a Belgrade metro were making progress.

He said Serbia was financially stable and that its financial liquidity was a source of security, as well as that, at around 52 pct of GDP, public debt was under control and that the International Monetary Fund supported Serbia and was satisfied with its current economic performance.

Ferguson said he saw Serbia had got many things started and that this was good.

Mali and Ferguson agreed their countries had potential to develop further cooperation in international trade, technology, environmental protection, culture and education.

The statement said Serbia-UK goods trade had almost tripled in the past decade and that exports and imports had both peaked in 2022 as a result of a 2021 bilateral agreement on partnership, trade and cooperation.

The UK is the eighth-largest foreign investor in Serbia and invested around 1.3 bln euros in the country between 2010 and 2022.

Investors from the UK have a presence in the Serbian tobacco industry and the telecommunications, real estate and automotive sectors, as well as in financial brokerage, the statement said.