Mali: Good cooperation with Germany's KfW

BELGRADE - Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali met with KfW's director for southeast Europe and Turkey Klaus Muller on Tuesday to discuss current projects in Serbia supported by the German development bank.

Thanking KfW for the successful cooperation to date, Mali said Serbia had launched a large number of development projects that were contributing to its overall economic performance.

"All those projects direct us to becoming even more efficient. We are investing in infrastructure, reconstructions of hospitals and health care centres, we are bringing in factories. We have done a good job and being named the EXPO 2027 host will make us a global hub," Mali said, adding that he expected the good cooperation with KfW to be continued.

He said Serbia had made major strides in its reforms and had launched a restructuring of the electric power company EPS with great determination to reform the energy sector, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

He also said Serbia was financially liquid and macroeconomically stable but wanted to accelerate GDP growth.

"We can do that with further work, projects and a responsible balancing act in the economic policy as we do not know what global circumstances await us, and they will inevitably spill over to the Serbian economy as well. That is why we must set the priorities well," Mali said at the meeting, held at the Ministry of Finance.

Expressing gratitude for the cooperation to date, Muller said Serbia was registering good economic results, and congratulated the country on being named the host of EXPO 2027.

The ministry said KfW supported Serbia in achieving objectives and meeting commitments related to the EU accession process, with special focus on climate and energy and sustainable development of urban infrastructure.