At the third sitting, held on 11 December, the members of the Committee on Science and Technological Development discussed the Republic of Serbia 2009 Budget Bill, section 20 – Ministry of Science and Technological Development.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Srboljub Zivanovic, and attended by the Minister of Science and Technological Development and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Bozidar Djelic and associates and representatives of the Ministry of Finance.

Elaborating next year’s Budget Bill, section 20, Minister Djelic pointed out that the budget is in no way adequate for the development of science in Serbia. It is 0.3% of the gross domestic product. However, consultations have managed to keep next year’s budgetary allocations on the same level as this year’s. Even such an amount of means will improve the material position of scientists employed in institutes, as well as provide an 8% salary growth next year. Minister Djelic stated that in addition to budgetary means, the Ministry of Science plans an income from other sources, above all joint projects with public companies and the private sector. Means from the European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and World Bank will also be used to finance projects. The Minister also announced the signing of a memorandum with the Russian Federation regarding the VIN Project dealing with the displacement of Vinca fuel outside of Serbia by the middle of 2010.

In the discussion of the Budget Bill, section 20, certain Committee members expressed their displeasure at the 8.9 billion dinars of envisaged means concerning them insufficient for the science sector.

Having completed the discussion, the Committee accepted the Republic of Serbia 2009 Budget Bill, Section 20 – Ministry of Science and Technological Development by a majority of votes, with the reserved opinions of Committee members Zoran Sami, Srboljub Zivanovic, Marko Milenkovic and Sreta Peric.