On the sidelines of the Hungarian and Serbian prime ministers’ summit, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga and Minister of State for Economic Regulation Béla Glattfelder met with Serbian Economy Minister Željko Sertić and Finance Minister Dušan Vujović. At the event, the Serbia’s representatives announced that the Serbian Privatization Agency has been preparing the privatization of 51 Serbian companies and they welcome every Hungarian enterprise showing interest as the Agency hopes to have investors from neighbouring countries.

The Serbian ministers said that a new bankruptcy law had been adopted through which the privatization of insolvent companies can be accelerated. The Hungarian delegation stressed that they see potential improvement in the field of Hungarian exports, stronger cross-border relations of SMEs and Hungarian participation in Serbian privatization.

At the talks, Serbia’s EU accession – for which Hungary provides concrete expertise -- has also been discussed. In this regard, the Serbian participants emphasised that they wish to follow Hungary’s example in the EU accession process.

Serbia has been Hungary’s major economic partner in the Western Balkans. Hungarian-Serbian trade shows steady volume growth, albeit with a massive Hungarian surplus. The volume of bilateral trade totalled EUR 1.735 million last year, up by 4.5 percent year-on-year. The value of Hungarian exports to Serbia was EUR 1.302 million, constituting an increase of more than 9 percent year-on-year.

(Ministry for National Economy)