Vucic meets with EBRD president

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso in Belgrade on Tuesday to discuss priority energy and infrastructure projects, the reform agenda and the Western Balkans Growth Plan, as well as Serbia's potential for new investments within EXPO 2027, which would deepen further the cooperation between the EBRD and Serbia.

"An excellent meeting with EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso. I expressed great satisfaction with the fact that the EBRD, as the leading institutional investor in Serbia, is strengthening and expanding its activities in the region, which will greatly increase the competitiveness and growth of our economy," Vucic wrote in an Instagram post after the meeting with Odile Renaud-Basso.

He added that they had discussed priority energy and infrastructure projects and, in particular, the process of transforming the energy sector, a higher share of renewables, expediting the green energy transition, boosting the competitiveness of the private sector, financing for sustainable infrastructure and strengthening regional connectivity, which he noted were also Serbia's objectives under a long-term plan aimed at accelerated development.

He said a reform agenda aimed at advancement of investment opportunities, as well as the required conditions for obtaining Growth Plan funds, had been an important discussion topic as well.

"We also discussed the enormous potential Serbia has for new investments within EXPO 2027, which would deepen further the cooperation between the EBRD and our country, which has to date proven to be one of the most dependable partners of the reputable financial institution. I pointed out that Serbia is also the region's innovation hub and that EBRD support in that sense is enormously important, in particular, for young people who are the stakeholders of our country's future development," Vucic wrote in the post.