The Serbian Assembly Speaker added that supporting female entrepreneurship is a solid developmental chance for every country and that the National Assembly would continue to improve the legislative framework to secure the best conditions to launch private businesses.

Gojkovic said that Serbia’s legislative activities clearly demonstrate the country’s dedication to advance the position of women and gender equality and that progress has been made as regards the legislation combating violence against women and ensuring equal participation in political life, adding that women now hold some of the top decision-making positions in the land.

However, the Parliament Speaker went on to say that it is essential to keep working to include the principle of the gender equality in all social segments as evident from the fact that the employment rate of women is still lower than that of men, women still receive lower wages and self-employment among men is twice as high than among women.

“I am sure that with the right incentives we can continue to change the statistics and encourage the development and launching of female-owned businesses”, said Gojkovic. The Assembly Speaker said that though the fact that about 30% of small and medium-sized businesses in Serbia are run by women may at first glance seem encouraging since that is the European average, the considerably high percentage of businesses which fail on the market and women often running into difficulties when trying to secure funding or loans because they usually do not own property, shows that we still have a long way to go.

Gojkovic opined that it is a good thing that women’s entrepreneurship and successful businesswomen have become a topic of discussion because this is a good way to fight against those barriers and difficulties that additionally burden the already problematic first steps of any business undertaking.

“Being a businesswoman is not easy anywhere in the world and our region is no exception. You have shown courage to follow your ideas and start from nothing, to risk to gain success. This deserves our attention and respect. You have shown that perseverance and not backing down from obstacles is the key,” said Gojkovic to the women entrepreneurs taking part in the International Conference.