ROME (ITALPRESS) – Serbia and Lombardy have started a collaboration with “enormous potential” which will allow Lombard know-how to “penetrate a new and dynamic market” while the Balkan country will be able to take advantage of the “progress” of the Italian region as a “model” for “the application of best practices”. Thus Jovan Palalic, deputy of the National Assembly of Serbia and president of the parliamentary friendship group between Serbia and Italy, in an interview with Italpress, highlights the potential in relations between Serbia and Lombardy.
Palalic visited Milan a few days ago where he met the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana. Last December Fontana was also on an institutional mission to Serbia with the aim of strengthening economic relations between the Italian region and the Balkan country.
“Serbia and Lombardy started their collaboration a few years ago, but the end of 2023 gave a crucial impetus to concrete initiatives,” Palalic explained. “When last year in Milan – he continued – I asked my dear friend, the president of Lombardy Attilio Fontana, to visit Serbia, which in those days had renewed its mandate with the great support of the citizens, I saw enormous potential in such a collaboration. One of the most developed regions in Europe, which looks far ahead in terms of internal dynamics, initiatives and visions, opened the prospect of collaborating with the largest economy in the Balkans in Belgrade in December”. The Serbian deputy referred to the initiatives and themes that will characterize this collaboration. “The topics – he highlighted – were carefully and precisely chosen by the Italian embassy in Belgrade, precisely on the basis of a good understanding of Lombard excellence and the main Serbian priorities. The robust development of the innovation and start-up sector in Serbia, together with the well-known level of development of technical sciences and research centers, combines with the Lombard focus on advanced technologies in its fields, which already make it recognizable as ‘ region of the future. Since Serbia, and in particular Belgrade – he continued -, is already recognized as an innovation hub for south-eastern Europe, Lombardy’s consolidated and high-quality know-how in various sectors has the possibility of penetrating a new market and dynamic. The very fact that a Serbia-Lombardy economic forum dedicated to innovation was held in Belgrade indicates where mutual interest is concentrated. University collaboration, especially from technical departments, will give a strong boost to the development not only of Serbia, but also of the Balkan region. We look forward to meetings and scientific exchanges with the Polytechnic, the first contacts have indicated a mutual interest in collaboration”.
Relations between the Italian region and the Balkan country can also develop in other sectors. “A particularly possible field of collaboration, mentioned during my visit to Lombardy last April and during the talks with President Fontana – he explained -, is the EXPO 2027 exhibition, which will be held in Belgrade. Milan and Lombardy’s extensive experience in organizing EXPO 2015 indicates significant collaboration potential in the construction, infrastructure and design sectors. The experiences and successes of AREXPO and MIND can be invaluable in orienting the vision of the exhibition space after the event in Belgrade. Serbia is urgently preparing for this event and the budget that will initiate the development of the entire country already amounts to 18 billion euros. In addition to the construction of a national stadium, exhibition pavilions, residential complexes and water sports centers, the construction of a new fairground, two marinas on the Danube and a rail and road system are planned. All this on an area of 167 hectares, where a ‘Belgrade of the future’ will be born, which is the vision of President Aleksandar Vucic”.
A friendship, therefore, which can bear fruit for both parties: in a country oriented towards the future, according to Palalic, Lombardy is seen as a model for the development of Serbia and the Balkan country, for its part, can also represent an opportunity for the Italian region. “In an environment that looks to the future with a desire for collaboration and new knowledge, as Serbia is becoming today – underlined the Serbian deputy -, the great success and indisputable progress of Lombardy, evident and visible to anyone who visits it, are shown as a model and stimulus for the application of best practices and new learning. And for Lombardy in Serbia this is a great opportunity to expand its economic and technological presence beyond the borders of my country, as Belgrade is the natural capital of the Balkans, with its sights set from the Aegean Sea to Budapest. With these strong collaborative impulses, achieved in less than a year, we look with optimism to the realization of the projects started and, I am sure, to their great fruits”, concluded Palalic.
– Photo: Italy-Serbia parliamentary friendship group –
(ITALPRESS).
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