The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, said in Seoul, after signing the Memorandum of Understanding with representatives of the South Korean conglomerate SK Group, that “Serbia is ready to bring technologically advanced, capital-intensive investments and that its chance lies in the fact that this conglomerate does not have a biotechnology center in Europe”.
“We signed a Memorandum of Understanding, I hope that we will not miss the opportunity and that we will be the European biotechnology center for South Korea. When the second largest Korean conglomerate comes to you, then it’s easy to bring in everyone else. That is our immediate goal”, explained the Prime Minister.
This document refers to a possible investment by part of a conglomerate that deals with biotechnologies in Serbia, she stated. Brnabić mentioned that she does not want to raise expectations, but also expressed the hope that we will reach a final contract by the end of this year.
“We will have the first huge capital-intensive investment in Serbia. In the second half of September, company representatives send a delegation to Serbia for further negotiations. I hope that as a result of the visit we will have the first big investment, followed by the next one”, the Prime Minister said.
She reminded that in the last five or six years, companies such as NCR and Microsoft have invested in Serbia, that Serbia has a research and development center and that, thanks to talented and creative people, new products and technologies are being developed there.
According to her, since the Korean Agency for the Promotion of Trade Investments opened an office in Belgrade in 2015, the trade cooperation between our countries has advanced considerably.
Brnabić mentioned that in 10 years we have increased the volume of trade by almost 50 times. Exports to the Republic of Korea increased more than 100 times – from 2.1 million to 214 million dollars, while the exchange of goods amounted to 585 million in 2022, specified the Prime Minister.
According to her assessment, it is still extremely low if we look at the potential for cooperation, which is why our country’s ambition is to achieve a trade exchange of one billion dollars in the next two or three years, and then much more.
The Prime Minister stated that Serbia’s policy implies that resources are not exported, but the goal is to bring partners and export the finished product.
