“Serbia made impressive economic growth fueled by foreign direct investments”

By Lee Kyung-sik, VCs Choe Nam-suk, Joy Cho, Feature Editor Jeong Da-jeong

Ambassador Nemanja Grbić of the Republic of Serbia in Seoul said, “My country in recent years has had impressive economic growth, fueled by number of foreign direct investments, including some from the Republic of Korea.”

Speaking at a recent interview with The Korea Post media, publisher of 3 English and 2 Korean-language news publications since 1958, Ambassador Grbić said, “Despite global economic challenges, Serbia continues to experience steady economic growth and political stability.” Excerpts from the interview follow:

Question: My heartiest gratitude for the precious opportunity to interview Your Excellency! Please introduce yourself to our readers to the fullest possible extent, including your family and hobbies.

Answer: Please introduce the latest news about Your Excellency's country in the economic, political, cultural, social and other areas—interesting to Korea and the two countries.

Republic of Serbia in recent years has had impressive economic growth, fueled by number of foreign direct investments, including some from the Republic of Korea. Despite global economic challenges, Serbia continues to experience steady economic growth and political stability.

Last few years also marked new chapter in bilateral relations of Serbia and Korea, which will mark 35 years of diplomatic ties next year. Of particular importance for the development of political and economic partnership between Serbia and Korea was recent (9-10 September 2023) official visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia H.E. Ms. Ana Brnabic to the Republic of Korea, when she had very fruitful meeting with Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea H.E. Mr. Han Duck-soo, as well as number of Korean companies, including a visit to Busan.

During talks of the two leaders, Prime Minister Han said that Serbia could be a launching pad for Korean companies in Europe, which is our goal as well. During the visit, a Bilateral Investment Treaty between the two countries was signed, as well as Memorandum of Understanding between companies SK and Frontier Farma, and many successful meetings were held. We hope to bring frequent meetings at the highest level (so far, two between the presidents and two between the prime ministers) even further in the coming period.

Two countries could also cooperate on exchanging good practices and experiences when it comes to the organization of important international events, having in mind that the capital of Serbia Belgrade will host 2027 Specialized EXPO, while Korea might host EXPO 2030 in Busan and already has extensive experiences in this respect (Specialized Exhibitions in Daejon in 1993 and Yeosu in 2012).

Q: What is the present volume of bilateral trade, its outlook in the next 12 months?

A: Bilateral trade exchange in 2022 amounted to around 584 million USD, with potential to increase further. In last couple of years, it has been constantly on the rise. To put things into perspective, trade volume grew 49 times in the past decade, while our export grew 102 times.

Serbia and Korea have very compatible economies, as we don’t produce and export same items. Serbia's leading export products to Korea include copper, protein concentrates, textured materials, pipes and hoses, plastics, food products, untreated wood, while leading imported products to Serbia from Korea are connectors for wires and cables, processors and controllers, plastic insulating parts, etc. Furthermore, Serbia is 6th largest corn exporter to Korea (3rd in non-GMO corn), 9th largest exporter of wheat and 3rd largest exporter of frozen berries.

After the signing of the Bilateral Investment Treaty, during the visit of the Serbian Prime Minister last month, it is expected that in a few months Serbia and Korea will start negotiations on signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (akin to Free Trade Agreement), which, when signed, will herald a new era for trade relations between the two countries. Serbia is particularly interested in cooperating with Korea in innovations-based economy. Therefore, the two countries will very soon sign the Memorandum of Understanding on innovation-based economy, which is expected to further strengthen the cooperation in this field.

Q: What are the areas in your country where Your Excellency might wish the Korean companies to invest and what are the areas in Korea where the businessmen of Your Excellency's country are desired to invest?

A: Our goal is to attract to Serbia the biggest Korean chaebols, like Hyundai, Samsung, Kia and others. Serbia is ranked very high in green field investment attractiveness (no. 1 in 2019 by Financial Times), as Serbian government offers generous incentives to foreign investors, and Serbian workforce is very well educated and highly skilled. Furthermore, Serbia has a fantastic geostrategic position in Southeast Europe, at the crossroads between Western Europe, North Africa/Middle East and Asia Minor. On top of that, through series of signed FTAs, production in Serbia would open market of over 1.3 billion people worldwide.

Where we believe cooperation between Serbia and Korea can truly shine are industries of the future and knowledge-based industries like biotech, new green energy (1,4 billion USD worth solar power plant project in Serbia, which involves Korean and US consortium of companies, was just approved by the Government), IT (largest export sector of our economy), environment, infrastructure etc. Other areas of interest to our side are smart mobility, bio economy and digital transformation. Therefore, we put a lot emphasis on signing the aforementioned MoU on innovation-based economy, in due course.

I would like to use this opportunity to present to your readers BIO4 campus, an ambitious 300+ million USD project of the Serbian Government that will position Belgrade and Serbia as a new bio-economy hub in Europe for addressing the challenges in the fields of medicine, agriculture, energy and environment, through their convergence with new Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

Q: What are your competitive products and/or services attractive to Korea? Who are the companies of your country exporting your products services to Korea?

A: Having in mind Serbia’s long history in producing first class agricultural goods, as well as demand in Korea, we believe that there is huge untapped potential for export of Serbian agricultural products to Korea. This especially goes for different types of cereals and grains (wheat, corn), fruits and vegetables (both fresh, and frozen or processed), meat (pork), honey, as well as beverages (wine, beer, fruit brandies – rakija, etc.).

It is expected that the two countries will, in due course, sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in Agriculture, which will make exchanges easier. Serbia can be long-lasting and reliable provider of food products to Korean market. Also, Serbia is leader in attracting Foreign Direct Investment in Southeast Europe region (about 60% of total regional FDIs go to Serbia). In that regard, we believe one of the potentials for cooperation is to have Korean companies invest in Serbia in food production, for export to Korean market.

Q: What are the Korean products and services that your country might wish to import?

A: We are interested in products connected to smart mobility, biotech, digital transformation, new green energy and Artificial Intelligence. It is important to mention that Serbia is a leader in AI field in Southeast Europe. We have recently joined Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), and were first in the region to adopt national strategy and have national institute in the field of AI.

Like other countries around the world, Serbia is also experiencing growing popularity and demand for K-culture (K-pop, movies and TV shows, demand for Korean food, cosmetics, beauty products etc.).

With regard to services, we are particularly interested in Korean know-how in the field of E-Government and digitalization. It is worth noting that Serbia, in cooperation with National Information Society Agency (NIA) of the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, has established two Serbia-Korea Information Access Centers (Serbia is the only country in the region with the two of them), which hugely contribute to the training projects of digitalization in Serbia. Same goes for cooperation of the Serbian institutions with Korean Development Institute through Knowledge Sharing Program. In the following months we aim to further enhance cooperation with Korean side in fields of Creative industries, gaming and virtual reality.

Q: Who are the major Korean companies actively engaged in bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries? Please introduce them in detail in the order of size and scale of business activities.

A: At present, 19 Korean companies are doing business in Serbia, employing around 10.000 people. Most of them are engaged in labor intensive industries, like manufacturing of automotive parts, cables and harnesses (LS, Kyungshin Cable, Yura). Biggest investor so far is Yura Corporation, with around 100 million USD worth of investment, amounting to being 6th biggest exporter from Serbia in 2022. Our goal is to gradually make a shift from labor-intensive to high added value type of investments.

Q: Korean people, especially the up-and-coming Korean businessmen need rest and recuperation. What are your tourist attractions?

A: Republic of Serbia has huge untapped tourist potential, which has mostly yet to be discovered by Korean tourists. We have a number of old historic monuments, castles, churches and monasteries, some of which are inscribed at the UNESCO World Heritage Site list (five sites on the list and eleven on the tentative list). Furthermore, Serbia has a very diverse nature, and is, due to its specific geographic location, home to some endemic species of plants and wildlife.

Capital Belgrade (meaning “White City”) is one of the oldest European cities, with first settlements going back 7000 years. It has very rich and interesting history, due to a unique geostrategic location at the confluence of two major European rivers, Danube and Sava. Therefore, it was destroyed 44 times in numerous wars and subsequently rebuilt, each time with the renewed sense of pride and confidence. Along the ruins of the instagramic Belgrade Fortress, Belgrade also boasts as home of the one of the oldest coffee shops in Europe, as well as the largest Orthodox Christian Church in the region (Church of Saint Sava). Capital of Serbia is very tourist-friendly and modern metropolitan city (“Nightlife capital of Europe”), both close to rolling vineyard hills of Fruska Gora Mountain to the north, as well as mountain ski resorts to the south.

Q: What are the most important festive days in your country? Please elaborate.

A: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the most festive days in Serbia. People in Serbia celebrate Christmas on January 7th, according to the old Julian calendar, in a manner that binds traditional Orthodox Christian customs and joys of family getting together. On Christmas Eve (January 6th), people place oak tree branches (“Badnjak”) into the fire, symbolizing the fire three shepherds brought to the stable where Jesus was born to warm it up. These traditions are followed by rich and delicious Serbian cuisine. During the Christmas lunch, everyone in the family receives a part of special bread that has a lucky coin hidden in it. It is believed that the one who finds the coin will have good fortune throughout the year.

Q: Do you have Honorary Consul(s) in Korea? If yes, how are they contributing to the promotion of cooperation and friendship between the two countries?

A: No, Serbia still has no honorary consuls in Korea.

Q: Who among the Koreans are considered to be most prominently contributing to the promotion of relations, cooperation and friendship between the two countries? We would like to introduce them adequately so that others could follow their suit.

A: A new face of Korea in Serbia is popular Korean football midfielder and member of Korean national football team Hwang In-beom, who has just recently joined famous Serbian Football Club Red Star Belgrade.

Q: Please introduce Your Excellency fully as our readers would very much wish to learn as much as they can about Your Excellency.

A: Attached hereunder is my resume:

Name in full: Nemanja Grbić (Mr.)

Professional career:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia (since November 2009)

Appointed as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Republic of Korea (2021)

Coordinator in the Sector for Bilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, minister counselor (2021)

Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2020-2021)

Cabinet of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2018- 2020)

Secretary General of Serbian National Commission for UNESCO, Head of the UNESCO Division, UN Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2018)

Deputy Secretary General of Serbian National Commission for UNESCO, UN Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia of Serbia (2016-2018)

Head of the Consular Department and Attaché for Culture, Embassy of the Republic of Serbia to Japan (2011-2016)

US Senate Division, North and South America Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2010-2011)

Far East Division, Department for Asia, Australia and the Pacific, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009-2010)

Education:

Korean Language and Culture Learning Program for Young Diplomats, Korean Foundation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Seoul National University, Seoul (2017)

Japanese Language Learning Program for Young Diplomats, Japan Foundation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Kansai International Center, Osaka (2010-2011)

MA in Asian Studies, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade (2008-2010)

Undergraduate Advanced Studies in the EU and the Balkans, Belgrade Open School (2005-2006)

BA in the field of international relations, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade (2003-2008)

Awards and scholarships:

Best Ambassador Award, Korea Ambassador Culture Friendship Association, Seoul (2023)

Award for the best participant in the program, the Korean Language and Culture Learning Program for Young Diplomats, Seoul National University, Seoul (2017)

Excellence Award at the 18th Japanese Oratory Competition for Diplomats Accredited in Japan, Tokyo, Japan (2015)

Best Participant Award, Japanese Language Learning Program for Young Diplomats, Osaka, Japan (2010-2011)

Excellence award in the field of international relations, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade (2008)

Best Speaker Award, Regional Competition in the Field of International Humanitarian Law, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2007)

Award for winning 1st place at the national competition in the field of International Humanitarian Law, member of the team of the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, Nis, Serbia (2006)

Scholarship of the Fund for Young Talents of the Government of the Republic of Serbia (2006)

EFG Eurobank scholarship for the best students in the Republic of Serbia (2005)

City of Belgrade Award for Young Talents (2003)

Foreign languages:

English (C1), Japanese (B2), French (A2), Korean (A2), Farsi (A1)

Married.

Q: Please introduce the President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia”

A: (See full-length resume of President H.E. Serbia Aleksandar and Prime Minister Madam Mme. Ana Brnabic attached at the end of this report.—Ed.)

Q: Please add whatever other details that Your Excellency might consider to be important.

A: I would like to invite Koreans to travel to Serbia and experience what it has to offer. I’m sure they will find it worthwhile and wonderful experience!

President of the Republic of Serbia:

President of the Republic of Serbia H.E. Serbia Aleksandar Vučić was born on March 5, 1970, in Belgrade. In 1988 he graduated from “Zemunska Gimnazija”, and from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, in 1994.

He joined the Serbian Radical Party in 1993. The same year he was elected an MP into the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 1993, and he was elected the Secretary General of the Serbian Radical party in 1994. He stayed in that position until 2008.

He became the Director of the “Pinki” business and sport center in Zemun, in 1996. He managed to reconstruct these neglected sports facilities, and with successful operation he multiplied the incomes of the employees.

He was appointed the Minister of Information in 1998, by the Government of National Unity.

MP in the Federal Assembly of the SRY, in three terms of office: Council of the Republic as of February 1998 and as of May 2000 and on September 24, 2000 he was elected in federal elections.

In Belgrade mayoral elections, “Vučić for Metropolis” he won 29% of the votes in the first round, i.e. 48% of the votes in the second round. In Belgrade mayoral elections, held in May 2008, he won 316.357 votes, i.e. 34, 7%.

Together with Tomislav Nikolić, he founded the Serbian Progressive Party, and at the Founding Convention in October 2008, he was elected Party’s Deputy President.

After general parliamentary elections, held in 2012, he was appointed the Minister of Defense and the First Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of fight against crime and corruption.

After Tomislav Nikolić had resigned from the position of the President of the Serbian Progressive Party, after Presidential elections in 2012 he became an acting leader of the Serbian Progressive Party, on 24 May 2012. At the Second Party Congress, held on 29 September 2012, he was unanimously elected for the President of the Serbian Progressive Party.

He performed the duty of the defense minister from July 28, 2012, until the reshuffle of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, on September 2, 2013.

He has been participating actively in negotiations between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina, under the auspices of the European Union. He made a contribution to the signing of the Brussels Agreement in April 2013, whereby, for the first time since 1999, the realistic basis has been created for Serbian people living in Kosovo and Metohija to establish institutions that would be recognized by the international community.

As of September 2013, he kept only the position of the First Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of fighting crime and corruption.

After the Serbian Progressive Party’s victory in the elections held on 16 March 2014, he was elected for the Prime Minister of Serbia, in the Government formed on 27 April 2014. He held that position until August 2016, when, after the elections held on 24 April 2016, he began a new term as the Prime Minister of Serbia.

The Government that was led by Aleksandar Vucic reached a historical success by implementing the most difficult economic reforms in modern Serbian history. By temporarily cutting pensions and salaries in public sector he saved Serbia from bankruptcy, recovered the budget and started to decrease Serbia's public debt.

After the victory in the Presidential elections on 2 April 2017, he was appointed for the President of the Republic of Serbia.

He sees Serbia as an economically reconstructed, organized, modern European country; regional leader in economy, politics, infrastructure energy, stability of any kind, affirmation of human right and freedoms but also in education, culture, science, enlightenment sports and natality.

He won “Kapetan Miša Anastasijević” award in 2012 for the Personality of the Year, as well as the “Personality of the Year 2013”, by “Nezavisne novine”, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Additionally, he won the following awards as well: “Man of the Year 2013”, by the European magazine “The Man”; “The most European of the Year 2013”, by the international organization “The First European House”; “Vidovdan Award of 2013”, given by the City of Kruševac and “2014 Regional Leader” award by the regional jury and readers of “Večernji list” from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He is a passionate reader, particularly of literature from the field of historiography and geopolitics, but also Serbian and world literature; he’s the owner of quite a big personal library.

He plays chess, likes to watch football and basketball.

He is fluent in English and Russian, with basic knowledge of French and he is studying German.

Married with Tamara Vucic, father of Danilo, Milica and Vukan

Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Mme. Ana Brnabic:

Born in Belgrade in 1975, she holds a master's degree (MBA) from the University of Hull from the United Kingdom and has worked for more than ten years with international organizations, foreign investors, local governments and the public sector in Serbia.

In August 2016 she was elected Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, and she held that position until the election for the Prime Minister.

As Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, she particularly worked on the reform of public administration through introduction of e-government in Serbia, so that the state would become a true service for citizens. The introduction of e-government in Serbia also meant a much more efficient and transparent administration and a tool for a resolute and practical fight against corruption.

Some of the most important projects she implemented in this segment during her mandate are the e-Baby project ("Baby, welcome to the world"), the automatic data exchange between public administration bodies, thanks to which data is routinely exchanged between all administrative bodies today, instead of citizens collecting paper by paper and carrying them personally from counter to counter), electronic registration and payment of property taxes, electronic enrolment of children in kindergartens and schools.

As President of the Council for Innovative Entrepreneurship and Information Technologies of the Serbian government, through day-to-day consultations with IT industry from Serbia, start-ups and innovative companies, she developed the Action Plan and started its fast implementation. Today, Serbia is a country with four Science and Technology Parks – in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Cacak, which all contributes to the fact that the ICT sector is the most promising and fastest growing (reaching a share of 6% in GDP).

She is a member of the group "New Leaders for Europe" of the World Economic Forum and the Advisory Board of the organization "World Minds", which brings together the world's most important innovators from all fields. The Advisory Board of this organization includes, among others, Frederik de Klerk, President of the Republic of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 (who started and headed negotiations that led to the end of apartheid and the adoption of South Africa's first democratic constitution in December 1993) and Gerhard Schroeder, former Chancellor of Germany.

Prior to her election to the government of Serbia, she was director of Continental Wind Serbia (CWS), President of the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) and a member of the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization PEXIM, which provides scholarships to students from Serbia and North Macedonia for their master studies at the University of Cambridge provided they return to their country and help its development and reforms.

She took part in the establishment of NALED and PEXIM foundation.

She worked at various US consulting companies that were implementing projects financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Serbia. She was deputy director of the Serbia Competitiveness Project, an expert on the program of reform of the local self-government in Serbia and a senior coordinator of the program for economic development of municipalities.

She has received numerous awards for the development projects she has worked on, for the promotion of social responsibility and tolerance.

At a session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia of 28 October 2020, she was elected the Prime Minister of Serbia for the second time. The mandate in that convocation of the government lasted until 26 October 2022, when, for the third time, she was elected as the Prime Minister of Serbia.

Editor’s note:

For any inquiries concerning the contents of this Special Report, contact Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik of The Korea Post media at 010-5201-1740 and/or email cha@koreapost.com