Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication Rasim Ljajić has announced that a new model of economic diplomacy in Serbia will be proposed by mid-March, which will be more efficient and much cheaper.

“We have experience with the previous model which wasn’t efficient enough, it was too expensive and we used around nine million euros for five and a half years, while the results we rather poor”, Mr Ljajić has said to the press in the Palace of Serbia.

As he has said, it is necessary to find a model of economic diplomacy which will attract even more foreign investment and increase export, which are two basic goals of the new economic diplomacy.

“That sector will be formed within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a very clear coordination of all competent institutions and the ministry must be established. Here I have in mind primarily economic resources. We are going to start with the minimal type which is the cheapest”, Mr Ljajić has said.

He has said that we are going to start with the countries with which we have the largest trade volume, such as Italy and Germany, where we are going to have even more than one diplomat.

Mr Ljajić has said that China and Russia are going to be covered as well.

“It is possible that diplomats from one country will cover more neighbouring countries. We want our best people to join economic diplomacy and we are not going to hire new staff, but they will be hired from the existing institutions, agencies, ministries, and we are going to choose quality people”, Mr Ljajić has concluded.