State Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunication Tatjana Matić, attended the ceremonial opening of the 4th World Internet Conference in Vuzhen in China, held this year with the topic “Development of Digital Economy for Open and Shred Benefits – Creation of the society of joint future in the cyber space”.
In the opening, Ms Matić met Jack Ma, the founder and the president of Alibaba Group, and the two talked about the upcoming visit of the Serbian delegation to that company in Hangzhou, scheduled for Monday, 4 December.
Ms Matić has also used the occasion to meet Chuck Robbins, Executive of the CISCO System.
A ceremony was organised within the conference in Vuzhen for launching the Initiative for international cooperation in the field of digital economy within the platform “One Belt, One Road”, initiated by the Administration for cyber space of the PR of China and the National Committee for Reforms and Development of the PR of China.
State Secretary, on the behalf of the Republic of Serbia, has expressed the commitment to the Initiative for Digital Economy, stressing that the objectives of the Initiative are the same as the priorities defined in the Serbian-Chinese Memorandum of Information Silk Road, and the strategic documents for the development of the ICT in the Republic of Serbia and in the programmes and activities of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunications.
Serbia is one of seven countries in the world having concluded Memorandum on Information Silk Road with China, within which it develops the international cooperation in the digital economy. The initiative is supported also by Turkey, Laos, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Egypt…
On the first day of the official visit of our delegation to China, a meeting was organised with the Chinese National Committee for Reforms and Development, to discuss the follow up of the technical implementation of the Memorandum of Information Silk Road, launched in Belgrade in September.
On this occasion, State Secretary Tatjana Matić stated that digital economy and telecommunications were important for Serbia since they would provide a reduction of the gap between urban and rural areas, increase productivity and improve traditional economy.
“Of special importance is the cooperation in the area of smart cities, contributing to the reduction of costs, better and more efficient services for citizens, and thus increase the income of the government”, says Ms Matić.
Lin Niensiu, deputy head of the National Committee for Reforms and Development of the PR of China , says that the Chinese side wants to continue with the traditionally good cooperation between China and Serbia and that the cooperation should be based on equal basis.
It was concluded that for the continuation of the cooperation the pilot project involving the cities of Niš and Hangzhou is of key importance, for the development of the project in the field of scientific research, production and new technologies, human resource exchange and promotion of their education, as well as development of mechanism of communication to facilitate the cooperation of the two countries.
