Today, the National Assembly hosted the international parliamentary conference "BRICS - SERBIA AMONG FRIENDS".
The conference brought together MPs and parliamentarians from the countries of the region, ambassadors of BRICS member countries and partners, as well as experts and interested public.
The conference was opened by MP Bojan Torbica, who said that the goal of the gathering was to initiate a broader public debate in Serbia about whether there is a better and more promising alternative to the European path.
The attendees were addressed by MP Dragan Stanojevic, on behalf of the BRICS Cooperation and Association Parliamentary Group, who emphasised that the Group was formed in response to the society’s needs, because the citizens of Serbia recognise where the real potential for cooperation lies.
"BRICS is an alliance of countries that are friends of Serbia, none of them has committed aggression, bombed our country or threatened its sovereignty. On the contrary, these are partners who respect our path towards European integration, without conditions," Stanojevic said.
He added that BRICS has great global significance, politically and economically, and in the future also in terms of security, bearing in mind that this organisation brings together countries with over 3.5 billion people.
"Within the BRICS framework, Serbia, although a small country, has the opportunity to utilize its full economic potential," said Stanojevic.
The participants of the conference were also addressed by a representative of the Institute for Strategic Social Dialogue, Prof. Dr Nebojsa Petrovic.
The participants of the conference took part in two panels.
The first panel - BRICS and Global Reality, was attended by Ambassador of Venezuela Jaidys Julieta Briceño, Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Malinovsky, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China Li Ming, Ambassador of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko and the first member of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in charge of official cooperation with BRICS Aleksandar Vulin.
The second panel was attended by members of the National Assembly and MPs from the region, who presented what Serbia and the countries of the region can expect from BRICS.
The participants were addressed by MPs Dusan Bajatovic, Branko Pavlovic and Djordje Komlenski, as well as MPs from the region: member of the European Parliament from Romania Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca, member of the Parliament of Montenegro Vladislav Dajkovic, member of the National Assembly of North Macedonia Recep Ismail, member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska Srdjan Mazalica.