National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia / Activities / Activity details
13 December 2018 The National Assembly Speaker opens the conference “The Economist: The World in 2019”
Thursday, 13 December 2018
Gojkovic Opens Conference “The Economist: The World in 2019”
The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojkovic opened the conference “The Economist: The World in 2019” at the National Assembly House stressing that pursuing a foreign policy in line with its national priorities, military neutrality accompanied by a strong and sustainable economic growth in the face of complex circumstances are Serbia’s top tasks in 2019.
Gojkovic said that no one can predict with any degree of certainty the world we will live in next year, let along next decade, and a decisive and effective response to global challenges calls for recognizing one’s own role in the key processes of our times.
Gojkovic went on to say that despite the big structural and essential problems facing the EU member states, Serbia remains committed to the integration process.
“We hope the EU will manage to reaffirm its enlargement policy. Muddying the membership prospects has a big negative impact on the trends in the Western Balkan region – first and foremost the burgeoning nationalism and radicalization of the political scene in many of the countries in the region”, Gojkovic pointed out.
The Serbian Assembly Speaker warned that lately, retrograde processes have been gaining momentum in some parts of the region – insisting on individual interests to the detriment of others as well as to the detriment of the stability and cooperation in the region at large, accompanied by attempts to push unilateral forced solutions, almost as a rule, directly against the interests of Serbia and its citizens.
Gojkovic said that recently support for Serbia and its position has improved, as has the understanding for its arguments concerning Kosovo-Metohija as evidenced by the number of retracted recognitions of so-called “Kosovo” and Pristina’s failed attempts to join international organizations such as UNESCO and INTERPOL.
Gojkovic said that instead of Pristina’s response to this reality being its understanding the advantages of dialogue, by defending secessionism and the policy of fait accompli, Pristina turns to a policy of escalation and provocation such as the absurd and discriminatory 100% tax imposed on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the announced establishment of the so-called “Kosovo Armed Forces”, both against international law and regional agreements.
“By doing this Pristina jeopardizes not only the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, not only the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but the stability of the entire region. In that context, the open invitations and concrete steps toward the unification of Albania and “Kosovo” are not just a serious threat to the stability of the region, but maybe reveal the backdrop of Pristina and Tirana’s moves”, said Gojkovic.
Gojkovic informed the gathering that the Assembly had completed the debate on the 2019 budget last week and she is proud to say that Serbia has in the past six years been transformed from an economy characterized by stagnation and a high unemployment rate to a growing economy with a low inflation, eliminated fiscal deficit, lowered public debt and revitalized labour market.
“This has all been achieved primarily thanks to the comprehensive reforms launched by then Prime Minister and now President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. The reforms we have conducted and continue to conduct have contributed to economic growth and stability, GDP growth and the influx of foreign investments”, said the National Assembly Speaker.
The attending were also addressed by Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Zoran Djordjevic and Minister without portfolio responsible for innovation and technological development Nenad Popovic.
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