It is an interesting fact that Berislav Vekić, the Serbian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, is also a renowned surgeon and university professor, who has raised several young and promising surgeons in Serbia. He also boasts a great career in healthcare management. From his own experience, he argues that medicine and diplomacy have many common grounds and synergies, which has been confirmed in practice by many (not only) Serbian diplomats. We talked to Mr. Vekić a few days after the Czech Prime Minister’s official visit to Serbia.
How did you get involved in diplomacy?
In the field of surgery, which I have been involved in for 37 years, as a full professor at the university, I have achieved the maximum. I left behind several young and promising surgeons. I wrote over 200 scientific papers and 10 books in the field of medicine. During my surgical work, I held managerial positions in the Clinical Hospital Center of dr. Dragiša Mišović in Belgrade, so I became interested in health management, in order to improve the organizational work at the surgery clinic. I also spent a lot of time in foreign hospitals, where I improved my skills, but also learned how other health systems function.
I believe that medicine and diplomacy have many common grounds, because in both areas a large number of contacts are made that require social skills that are very important in direct communication. Throughout history, Serbian diplomacy has had doctors as diplomats, such as Vladan Đorđević, and today the Serbian ambassador in Moscow is also a doctor, Momčilo Babić.
This year, there has been an unprecedented number of high-level state visits between our countries. It is evident that our cooperation will keep growing in many areas. What would you point out?
We can say that 2024 was one of the most successful years in the last decade in the bilateral relations between the Republic of Serbia and the Czech Republic. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Marko Đurić was in Prague in July, and the return visit of Minister Jan Lipavský was in October. Besides that, we must not forget that the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić attended GLOBSEC at the end of August in Prague, where he met with the Czech President Petr Pavel.
In September, the Secretary General of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dušan Kozarev, met with the chief foreign policy advisor of the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karel Kühnl. In November, there was a three-day official visit to Serbia of the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who was accompanied by a large Czech business delegation that participated in the Serbian-Czech economic forum. An official visit of the Czech Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný is currently being prepared.
All these are indicators of intense bilateral relations between two friendly countries and nations as well as efforts to intensify them further. The Czech Republic supports Serbia on its European path and is one of the friendly countries that advocates for the opening of negotiation chapters as soon as possible and considers that the Republic of Serbia is an important factor for peace in the Southwestern part of Europe. Other topics were also discussed, including the current situation in the world, the war in Ukraine as well as in the Middle East, energy crisis, migration and refugee crisis. But most of the time was devoted to economic topics, because both sides believe that there is still a lot of potential.
In September, you met with representatives of the Czech Chamber of Commerce for Central Bohemia. What are the most attractive investment opportunities in Serbia for Czech companies at the moment?
Yes, it was a successful meeting, where I had the opportunity to present the investment opportunities of Czech companies in Serbia to distinguished businessmen. Last year, more than 4.5 billion euros of foreign direct investments entered Serbia, and of that amount, over 2.2 billion euros came from the European Union. The Czech Republic was the fourth largest European investment partner of the Republic of Serbia in 2023.
Our Embassy has good communication with the Department for Foreign Economic Policy of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, which is very important for the realization of future projects and the increase of trade exchange. There is good communication between our Chambers of Commerce, which is confirmed by the last Serbian-Czech Economic Forum in Belgrade.
In recent years, Serbia and the Czech Republic have broken records in trade exchange. In 2021, there was an increase of 15% in trade, in 2022 there was an increase of 18%, and in 2023, the increase in trade was 22.2% and exceeded 2 billion euros. Preliminary results for the first six months of this year indicate that this year will be a record year. Until a few years ago, the Czech Republic was Serbia's 17th trading partner, and today it is in 9th place. Areas dominated by inter-trade exchange are auto industry, chemical and pharmaceutical industry, real estate and services in various fields.
Can you be more specific about the opportunities for Czech businesses?
During its European journey, the Republic of Serbia harmonized its laws with EU legislation in order to attract foreign investors. These significant changes have led to Serbia finding itself high on the list of countries that are attractive for investors. Each investor in the Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) gets his own project manager who guides them through the investment process. As an advantage of the Serbian market, I can point out interstate agreements related to the free flow of goods, capital and people in the area of customs regulations with the EU, CEFTA, EFTE, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey, as well as the preferential regime with the US, Japan and Australia. This represents a great advantage for investors, if we know that only Serbia and Israel offer the possibility of exporting goods duty-free to the east and west, to markets that have over 1.3 billion people.
Foreign investors enjoy investment freedom and have the same conditions as Serbian citizens. All these facts also apply to the fields of energy, transport, chemistry, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure, in which there is the greatest interest of Czech investors. The biggest Czech investments include the "Marina Dorćol" and "Avala Film" real estate projects by Sebre, and the "Arboleda" project by Domoplan from Brno and others. The Czech company Mattoni is the owner of "Knjaz Miloš", Penta owns the Dr.Max pharmacy chain, and Czechs are also owners of Jat Tehnika. At the last meetings of our businessmen, new joint projects in the field of energy, defense industry and transport were agreed upon.
Despite our relative geographical proximity, Serbia may not be the very first choice for Czech companies when they plan to expand to foreign markets. Can you introduce Serbia to our SME readers in this regard and give them the main reasons why it should be the best destination for their expansion and foreign investment?
The advantage of the Republic of Serbia is its strategic geographical position and developed road network. Serbia offers favorable tax rates on the profits of legal entities, as well as tax incentives for the employment of foreigners and returnees. The process of registering a company at the Agency for Business Registers is simple with legal assistance and can be completed within 3-5 days. A company can be established without the physical presence of the founder. Foreign persons who wish to invest in the Republic of Serbia in the form of importing equipment may be exempted from paying customs duties if the equipment being imported is in accordance with Serbian regulations on environmental protection.
Serbia and Israel are the only countries that offer the possibility of duty-free exports to both the East and the West, to markets with more than 1.3 billion people.
The country also provides special non-refundable funds for greenfield and brownfield investments. There are currently 15 free zones in Serbia and the profit made in one of these free zones can be transferred to any country without any permits and without any taxes and costs. There is also a large number of young graduates with good knowledge of English in Serbia. Serbia is ranked 4th out of 76 countries in knowledge of business English according to the BEI (Business English Index). Finally, Serbia provides a temporary residence permit based on employment, training or practice to any foreigner. Serbia has an agreement on avoiding double taxation with 59 countries around the world, including one with the Czech Republic that was signed in June 2017.
The EXPO 2027 international exhibition will be held in Belgrade. What arguments would you use to attract Czech businesses to take part in the exhibition?
The fact that Belgrade earned the right to hold the world's largest exhibition, EXPO 2027, is a great success for Serbia, which managed to win in strong competition from Spain, the US, Argentina and Thailand. The country is preparing for the exhibition, a new exhibition space is being built with a complete new infrastructure. Talks have started with the world's leading companies that are interested in taking part in the event. We are also talking to Czech companies that are interested in taking part in the construction of the infrastructure until 2027, as well as being participants in the event itself. The entire city of Belgrade is getting ready for this big event, as more than 3 million guests from abroad are expected to visit.
What does the exchange of students or researchers look like between our countries?
In earlier years we had a large number of Serbian students who studied at Czech universities, primarily at Charles University, Masaryk University and AMU. Famous Serbian directors such as Emir Kusturica, Srđan Karanović, Goran Paskaljević and many others graduated from the FAMU film school.
Today we are developing cooperation in the field of medicine and bio medicine. At the beginning of next year, cooperation and exchange of experts' experiences will begin between several well-known medical institutions from both countries. A major project of the Strategy for Biomedical Sciences and the Fight Against Cancer is underway, signed by the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Science, Research and Innovation of the Czech Republic. There is still a lot of room for improving cooperation between the two countries in the field of education and science.
How do you like life in the Czech Republic? And what do you see as the greatest similarities or differences between Serbs and Czechs?
Serbs and Czechs share common Slavic roots. We have had excellent relations over the centuries. In the 14th century, there was a great friendship between the first Serbian emperor Dušan the Strong and Emperor Charles IV. After the Great War, the great friendship between the Serbian king Aleksandar Karađorđević and the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk is known. Today we can highlight the great friendship between the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the former Czech President Miloš Zeman.
It is a great honor and privilege to be the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in Prague. For these three years of work, I have only good memories with pleasant and hospitable people. I met many new friends, sincere friends for life. Before I came to Prague, I mastered the basic level of the Czech language, but I must admit that Czech grammar is extremely difficult compared to Serbian.
If we talk about Prague, for me it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. I had been to Prague several times before and was always delighted with every part of the city. The city is like a museum and it is not for nothing that they call it Golden Prague. It will be very difficult for me when the time comes to say goodbye to your wonderful country, the great people and dear friends, but it will also be an additional motivation to return to Golden Prague whenever I can.
Ambassador Berislav Vekić was interviewed by Daniel Libertin
Photo credits: Embassy of the Republic of Serbia to the Czech Republic
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