Momirovic: Large Japanese business delegation due in Belgrade in October

TOKYO - Serbian Minister of Internal and External Trade Tomislav Momirovic said on Tuesday in Tokyo the level of Serbia-Japan trade was significant after reaching 330 mln euros last year, but that the goal was for it to exceed 1 bln euros a year in the coming years.

On the first day of a visit to Japan, Momirovic said this could be done only by attracting new Japanese investments, the Ministry of Internal and External Trade said in a statement.

He noted that he was accompanied by the largest Serbian state and business delegation to visit Japan in 40 years, and that, at a meeting at the Japanese MFA, he had said Serbia wanted to accelerate the work on the signing of a bilateral agreement on investment protection.

"A large number of Japanese companies are operating in Serbia and have invested over 500 mln euros in the past seven or eight years. That is good information, but it should not satisfy us," Momirovic said, adding that much more could be achieved.

He said a visit to Belgrade by a large delegation of Japanese businesspeople - including some who had not as yet considered Serbia as an investment destination - was due as early as in October.