The Chairperson and members of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy met today at the National Assembly House with the Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Islamic Republic of Iran to discuss how to best improve the economic cooperation between the two countries.
Committee Chairperson Snezana B. Petrovic welcomed the Iranian PFG delegation saying she was sure today’s visit and constructive dialogue would contribute to the development of relations between Serbia and Iran. Petrovic said that EU accession is a foreign policy objective Serbia is concentrating its efforts on in order to become a formal part of the European family as soon as possible. Serbia had also recently conducted reforms which lead to the country’s economic growth and made it the leader in the region.
The Chairperson also informed the Iranian guests that on 31 October Serbia moved up on the Doing Business list from number 47 to the 43 and had in the last 7 months received 1.2 billion worth of direct investments. 27 foreign investors have decided to reinvest into Serbia, some of them for the third time running, which had created new jobs and led to a decrease in the unemployment rate from 26 to 11.8% from 2012 to date. Finally, she added that there is room to improve cooperation in both the field of economy and tourism and that the meeting of the Serbia-Iran Mixed Commission for economic cooperation scheduled for mid-December would be an excellent opportunity to present concrete mutually beneficial cooperation projects.
Ivan Manojlovic, member of the Committee and PFG with Iran, said that there is also room to develop cooperation in the field of engine and industrial oil production which Iran is famous for, as well as health tourism.
The Head of the PFG with Serbia at the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly Parvaneh Salahshouri said she was pleased by the intensification of relations between the two countries in the previous period and concluded that dialogue could improve overall cooperation. The head of the delegation concluded that trade has not been at a very high level hoping that the intensification of dialogue would help change this trend.
The officials also spoke about the duties of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy, the reform process in Serbia, Serbian economy and economic development.
