The trade exchange between Serbia and France from 2022 to today has increased by 34.2 percent and is close to two billion euros, the French ambassador to Serbia, Pierre Cauchard, said today.
At the ceremony organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS) and the company “Coface” on the occasion of 10 years of cooperation and the existence of the “EXCELLENT SME” certificate in Serbia, he said that the relations between the two countries were strengthened by the agreement on financial support from 2019, whose the goal is to strengthen economic ties.
He pointed out that there are a large number of French companies in Serbia and that exports are increasing year by year.
“There are currently 120 French companies operating in Serbia that employ 12,000 people, and the Vinci company stands out as an example of good practice. It is necessary to encourage small and medium-sized French companies in order to do more business with Serbia and to be bolder in investments. It is up to us to attract these companies”, Košar said.
Milun Trivunac, adviser to the president of the Serbian Communist Party, pointed out that, according to APR data, 285 companies whose owners are French citizens operate on the Serbian market, while France ranks 11th among the countries with the largest net investments of non-residents in Serbia.
“Between 2010 and 2023, France invested 1.14 billion euros and employed more than 13,000 people, mainly in the automotive, food and IT sectors. During 2022, almost 5,000 business entities were registered that did business with the French market, of which 811 exported frozen raspberries, car tires, circular pumps, while close to 3,700 companies imported medicines, seed goods, machine parts from France,” said Trivunac.
He pointed out that in addition to investment cooperation, the goal is to increase the number of companies that trade with each other, in order to further improve the value of commodity exchange.
“Serbia is the main country in the Balkans in which France invests and where 70 percent of its investments go. During 2022, the total value of foreign trade exchange between Serbia and France was close to two billion euros. We mostly export frozen raspberries to France, close to 10 percent of the total export,” he added.
