Vucic: Important meetings in Davos, I expect Duda to visit Serbia soon

DAVOS - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday in Davos he had had several economic meetings at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and that he had spoken with Polish President Andrzej Duda, whom he expects to visit Belgrade within a month and a half.

"We had a long discussion and we expect him in Belgrade soon, within the next month and a half. Another very important visit for us after a visit by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. (Azerbaijani) President (Ilham) Aliyev and many others will visit us in the meantime," Vucic said, adding that he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the evening.

Speaking to reporters, Vucic said he had also spoken with EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, and noted that the EBRD was the largest financial investor in Serbia.

He said he had attended so-called IGWELs - meetings of world leaders hosted by the WEF - that had been addressed, among others, by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, as well as by the most powerful people in the US and Europe and representatives of many countries around the world.

They discussed global developments, he said.

"They expect a decent growth rate, but it is really not sufficient, especially as the bulk of the good growth rate will come from Asia. America, too, will have a good growth rate, around 2.7 pct, which is very good. However, Europe is at the bottom. Fortunately, we (Serbia) will be trying three to four times better than Europe on average," Vucic said.