Romania, Serbia wish to strengthen bilateral economic relations

The economic cooperation prospects between Romania and Serbia and the ways to make the bilateral trade more dynamic were among chief topics of the talks held by state secretary for foreign trade in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business Environment (MECMA) Maria Parcalabescu and her Serbian counterpart Vesna Arsic.

According to MECMA, the strengthening of the relations between the Romanian and Serbian business environments represents the main topic of discussion with the presidents of the Chamber of Commerce and Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA). Maria Parcalabescu is also co-president in the intergovernmental joint commission for economic cooperation between Romania and Serbia, alongside Vesna Arsic.

At the end of 2009, Romania's commercial exchanges with the Republic of Serbia totaled 818.3 million dollars, out of which the exports amounted to 558.1 million dollars and the imports 260.2 million dollars, resulting a balance of 297.9 million dollars for Romania.

Serbia ranked 16th in Romania's total exports at the end of 2009, with a share of 1.4 percent, while in terms of imports it ranked 29th with 0.5 percent.The Romanian investments in the Serbian economy amount to 51.5 million dollars. In 2009, the total investment figure reached 244,000 dollars.There are 765 companies with Serbian capital registered in Romania, the value of the invested capital totaling 8.83 million dollars with Serbia ranking 59th in the foreign investors' classification.The Romanian-Serbian economic cooperation is regulated under the Agreement signed by the Government of Romania and Serbia on June 8, 2009.