At the sitting held on 15 November, the Committee on the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region discussed the return of the diaspora to the mother country and the utilization of the diaspora to incite economic development in the Republic of Serbia, and the Organization of Serbian Students Abroad presented its project: “Inciting the promotion of return of young people – how to bring the youth back to Serbia”.
Committee Chairman MA Ivan Kostic said that the working body he heads is focused on cooperation with Serbs in the diaspora and the improvement of their position having in mind that the Serbian diaspora’s rights are endangered and that its position is less than adequate. Kostic added that a third of Serbs who are a considerable financial capital live abroad, and very few of them are involved in Serbia’s economic development, concluding that by passing suitable legislation, such as tax breaks, the mother country could inspire young people to return to Serbia and help the country’s political and economic development.
Aleksandar Jakovljevic of the Organization of Serbian Students Abroad briefed the attending on its work, saying that it mainly focuses on the young, highly educated diaspora and its networking across the globe. Presenting the Organization’s project Jakovljevic said that between 20 and 25 thousand Serbs study abroad, 3000 of which in the US and 5000 in Vienna. One of the chief obstacles to their return to Serbia remains the recognition of the degrees they earn, a complicated procedure which should be bureaucratically simplified, a thing the relevant Ministry intends to address. Jakovljevic added that around 5000 young people go to study abroad on an annual basis and they should be incited, financially and through tax breaks, to return and work in the country.
Aleksandar Radovanovic, coordinator of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Business Council for the Diaspora, said that a strategic project is currently being drafted in cooperation with UNDP and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the support of the and Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications and Radio Television of Serbia which should ease connecting with the mother country, present Serbia’s business environment at its best and promote the advantages of investing into Serbia.
The Committee members agreed that cooperation with young people in the diaspora should be intensified and they should be provided with better conditions to return to Serbia. They said that the return of young people to Serbia is crucial and it requires a systemic approach and interdepartmental cooperation, so the Committee propose having a series of meetings with all the relevant authorities and the Chamber of Commerce to define some clear measures how to address the issue.
Under any other business the Committee Chairman informed the Committee members about the roundtable on the “Use of the Serbian Language and the Cyrillic Script” in Podgorica which he and another Committee member are to attend, and that Committee member Aleksandar Cotric will be taking part in a conference in Pécs, Hungary.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman MA Ivan Kostic, and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Blaza Knezevic, Dragan Savkic, Miodrag Linta, Aleksandar Markovic, Nenad Mitrovic, Vlado Babic, Marjana Maras, Mirjana Dragas, Ljiljana Mihajlovic, Nemanja Sarovic, Dr Ivan Bauer and Dragan Veljkovic.
