SERBIA

DACIC THANKS MINISTERS OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES FOR SUPPORT IN INTERPOL

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic thanked the foreign ministers of Belarus, Azerbaijan, Argentina and Bolivia, in telephone conversations on Nov. 29, for their countries' support to Serbia during the vote on the admission of Kosovo to Interpol. In his conversations with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, Belarus Vladimir Makei, Argentina Jorge Marcelo Faurie and of Bolivia Diego Rodriguez, Dacic confirmed the friendly relations and agreed on continued cooperation on the bilateral and multilateral planes, the Serbian Foreign Ministry has stated. Dacic invited the foreign ministers to visit Serbia, the statement reads.

DACIC, ITALIAN MP: INTENSIVE COOPERATION BETWEEN SERBIA, ITALY

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in Belgrade on Nov. 29 during a meeting with the chief of the Italian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs Marta Grande that cooperation between the two countries was intensive and on the level of a strategic partnership. Dacic said that Italy was the top EU destination for Serbian exports and also Serbia's second biggest importer, as well as that investments by Italian companies in Serbia were a substantial incentive for economic development and bilateral relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. Grande, who is visiting Belgrade until Nov. 30, said that cooperation between the two parliaments was very good and intensive and added that Belgrade was chosen for her committee's first visit. She said that this said a lot about how important Italy considered its relations with Serbia. She said that the stability of the Western Balkans was very important to Italy and that Rome appreciated Serbia's efforts to solve all questions that were weighing down on relations in the region through dialogue, the press release said. Dacic thanked Italy for its support for Serbia's European path and said that all the conditions for organizing a fourth joint session of the two governments in Serbia had been met.

VUCIC, ITALIAN MPS ON REGIONAL COOPERATION, PRISTINA'S DECISION TO INTRODUCE CUSTOMS DUTIES

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and President of the Italian parliamentary Committee on Foreign and European Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies Marta Grande met in Belgrade on Nov. 29 where they discussed bilateral relations, regional cooperation and Pristina's decision to impose a 100-percent tax on Serbian goods. Marta Grande lauded the peaceful and rational way that Serbia and Vucic had approached solving this problem, a statement from the president's office said. Grande said that her Committee had chosen Belgrade for its first visit for a reason, given its importance to the future of the Balkans and contribution to peace and stability in the region. Vucic voiced his satisfaction over the intensive and meaningful cooperation between Italy and Serbia, which was on the level of a strategic partnership and thanked Italy for its strong support to Serbia's European road. He said that Italy was a first-class partner to Serbia, both politically and economically, and that he hoped that even more Italian companies would use the favorable business environment in Serbia to invest. On the subject of the situation in the region, Vucic stressed Pristina's irresponsible actions, above all its unjustified introduction of a 100-percent tax on Serbian goods, which not only violated CEFTA rules but the right to life of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, the statement said. Although Pristina is ignoring the EU's and world's demands to scrap the tax, he voiced the hope that there would be enough sense to resolve the question and thereby meet the conditions for continuing the dialogue in Brussels and the preservation of peace and stability in the region.

SERB REPRESENTATIVES: WE WILL REMAIN IN KOSOVO, CONTINUE PEACEFUL PROTESTS

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - Representatives of the Kosovo Serbs stated after their meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic that they would continue the peaceful protests, but that the situation was becoming "alarming" since food supplies were "near the end" and the supply of fuels had not been secured. The president of the Serb Ticket and mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica, Goran Rakic, said that Vucic had asked them to hold peaceful and non-violent protests, "regardless of what Pristina resorts to." Rakic said the increase in import fees was not directed against Serbia, but against the survival of the Serbs in Kosovo, with a message to the representatives of Brussels and Pristina that "we have no weapons, but we also do not have a country in reserve, and we will fight peacefully." He said the shortage of fuels would be felt "in a day" and that it was unknown whether heating would be secured for northern Mitrovica, because the heating plant operates on mazut. Asked to comment on announcements of the Pristina authorities intending to "unite" northern and southern Kosovska Mitrovica, Rakic said this was not the first time such announcements were made and that the Serbs would remain on their land, and that the result of such moves was the fact that not a single Serb lived in southern Mitrovica. A representative of the Serbs who live in enclaves south of the Ibar River, Dalibor Jeftic, said the meeting with the officials of Serbia was "productive" and that the situation there was getting worse by the day. He added he expected the EU to take concrete measures to reduce the import fees, and that it had the mechanisms to influence the Pristina authorities through the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

POPOVIC, JUSKO: SERBIA AND BOSNIA WANT TO DEVELOP COOPERATION IN INNOVATION, NEW TECHNOLOGY

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina want to develop regional cooperation, especially in the field of innovation and new technologies, and see the future of development of the Balkans in this, the Serbian minister in charge of innovation and technological development, Nenad Popovic, and the minister of communications and transportation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ismir Jusko, said in Belgrade on Nov. 29. During their meeting, Popovic and Jusko pointed out the importance of closer cooperation between the innovation communities and tech companies from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and placed emphasis on the implementation of joint projects for building the innovation infrastructure in Bosnia, the Serbian government has stated. They noted that young experts' departing was a problem that affected the entire Balkans, and that it was important to create a regional framework for developing the innovation eco-system, which would keep young engineers in the region, the statement reads. Popovic and Jusko met ahead of the regional conference on technological innovations, Innovation Talk 2018, which was held in Belgrade on Nov. 29.

12^TH SCIENCE FESTIVAL OPENS

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - The 12th Science Festival opened at the Belgrade Fair on Nov. 29, and is being held in three fairground halls, with the participation of hundreds of scientists from the country and abroad. The assistant Serbian minister of education, science and technological development, Tibor Sabo, said at the opening of the festival that 150 scientists participated in the first Science Festival in 2007, and that the event now rallied more than 700 participants from the country and abroad. "More than 60 scientific and educational institutions are participating," said Sabo, adding that thanks to the Science Festival in Belgrade some 30 festivals had been launched in other Serbian towns. "It is very important that Belgrade and Serbia have one such festival, which promotes science and education and where visitors have the opportunity to be informed about numerous scientific inventions and accomplishments," he said. This year's Festival includes the theme Land of the Future, staged in Hall 3, where visitors have the opportunity to fly a plane with the help of solar power, explore space stations, learn how to get water when all the taps run dry, or walk through the past. In Hall 3A, they will find out what the firemen of the future look like, as well as robots which flew to space within NASA's program, and will also learn about other scientific challenges. The science-fiction stage is in Hall 5, where scientists from Europe and the U.S. are in charge of the program. Serbian Minister of Environmental Protection Goran Trivan will officially proclaim the Ambassador of Science at a ceremony on the Small Stage in Hall 3, at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 30. The sponsors of the Science Festival are the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS), Erste Bank, National Geographic and Grafix. MTS, the Belgrade Fair, the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, the French Institute, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Center for the Promotion of Science are supporting the festival.

ECONOMY

MIHAJLOVIC, WORLD BANK: SUCCESSFUL COOPERATION IN INVESTMENTS, REFORMS

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic met on Nov. 29 with the head of the World Bank office in Serbia, Stephen Ndegwa, to discuss a new investment cycle and capital projects which Serbia will realize, as well as reforms of the road and rail sectors and a project for removing non-physical barriers for improving trade and the economy. Speaking of the budget proposal for 2019 she said that capital investments had been substantially raised and that the implementation of eight large-scale projects in the road sector would be launched along with the construction and revamping of 310 kilometers of railways, the Ministry said. "We are wrapping up Corridor X, works on Corridor XI are also nearing conclusion and we are beginning a new investment cycle worth EUR5 billion. We will begin the construction of a highway connecting Nis and Pristina, as well as the Morava Corridor, which will link corridors X and XI. We will continue the construction of Corridor XI from Preljina to Pozega and the construction of a fast connection between Rum, Sabac and Loznica. In the railway sector the most important thing is the construction of a high-speed railway from Belgrade to Budapest. Additionally, we will launch projects in the area of water traffic worth EUR200 million," she said. The minister said that reforms of the railway sector were going according to plan, that workforce rationalization had been successfully concluded and that the emphasis was now on improving the structure of labor and efficiently managing investment.

CENTRAL BANK: IMPLEMENTATION OF IPA PROJECT BEGINS

BELGRADE, 29 November 2018 (Beta) - The integration of central banks with the economic and financial mechanisms of the EU requires adjustments on all levels of hierarchy and all levels of business, while this process is an opportunity for their strengthening, National Bank of Serbia Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said on Nov. 29. At the beginning of a conference marking the start of a project called, Strengthening the National Bank of Serbia's Institutional Capacities in the Process of EU Accession, she said that the implementation of a project like the aforementioned one had the goal of deepening cooperation and dialogue between central banks. "Cooperation that is based on trust and mutual understanding helps decision-making, which is possible only if we work together and share the same values," Tabakovic said. The project will last 18 months and be financed from the EU IPA pre-accession fund. It will be implemented in association with Serbia's partners - the central banks of Germany, Croatia and Romania, with the help of the German international cooperation agency GIZ. The National Bank of Serbia is participating in 11 negotiating groups. It is the leading institution in negotiating Chapter 9 - Financial Services and negotiating Chapter 17 - Economic and Monetary Policy and the second institution in charge of negotiating Chapter 4 - The Free Movement of Capital. The gathering at the National Bank of Serbia was attended by representatives of the EU Delegation to Serbia, the ambassadors of the states that are participating in the implementation of the project and Serbian government representatives.