The officials agreed that economic cooperation between Serbia and Norway is good, but there is still room for further improvement. Deputy Speaker Popovic pointed out the potentials for a joint appearance of Serbia and Norway on third markets, specifically the potentials of the free trade agreement Serbia has with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. He also stated attracting direct foreign investments and strengthening export potentials are among Serbia’s most important economic policy priorities. The National Assembly Deputy Speaker added that both Norwegian and Serbian companies could benefit from cooperation in energy production, especially considering the announced beginning of construction of the Southern Stream through Serbia. At the same time, Popovic warned of the dangers total liberalisation of import from the European Union, which is to begin on 1 January 2014 as part of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, could pose to Serbian agriculture.
Ambassador Kamsvåg commended Serbia’s overall progress, with particular focus on the anti-corruption efforts and improvement of the legislative framework, which are key elements for the attraction of direct foreign investment into Serbia. He stressed that Norway, whose citizens have twice rejected EU membership via referendums, had conducted a personal assessment of the manner in which to maintain economic relations with the European Union, stressing that abolition of customs duties is clearly not always in the states’ interest.
Popovic thanked Ambassador Kamsvåg for help the Norwegian Government extended to Serbia especially in the spheres of gender and security policy, education and rule of law, deeming that more frequent meetings between Serbian and Norwegian businessmen could further boost the two countries’ cooperation.