The Chairperson of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy Snezana B. Petrovic welcomed the delegation on the behalf of National Assembly Speaker Maja Gojkovic and herself, saying that the interparliamentary cooperation is the highest type of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Serbia. Petrovic said that in addition to the historical ties between the two nations, there is ample potential to further economic, military and touristic cooperation which both sides are eager to do. Speaking of economic cooperation, Petrovic said that trade has been following an upward trend, reaching 2,100,000,000 USD in the last 10 months, 800 million of which was Serbia’s export, while the Russian was 1,300,000,000 USD, adding that she was sure Serbia’s export would increase considerably in the coming period. She also said that there is room to advance cooperation in the fields of agriculture, tourism and energy.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on Economic Policy, Innovative Development, and Entrepreneurship Denis Kravchenko who was heading the delegation first apologized on the behalf of the Chairman, Sergey Zhigarev, who was unable to come due to parliamentary duties, and went on to say that the Russian side values the centuries-long relationship between the two peoples very highly indeed. Kravchenko said that the Committee he is representing deals with innovation and digitalization, which are two fields where the cooperation between the two countries could be significantly improved. Committee Deputy Chairman Dmitry Sazonov said that there is ample potential to enhance economic cooperation and proposed meetings between the two countries chambers of commerce.

Committee member Dragomir Karic agreed with the Chairperson that the volume of trade should be increased adding that at the beginning of next year he would suggest organizing a meeting between Serbian and Russian businessmen, along with a Russian Duma delegation.