Bonjour Serbia – a project connecting the development of French companies with the development of the city of Kragujevac

Within the project “Bonjour Serbia” launched at the initiative of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce in order to encourage economic cooperation between Serbia and France, the city of Kragujevac was the first city in Serbia to host a delegation of French businessmen led by the French Ambassador to Serbia Pierre Cochard, the president of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce Dragan Stokić, and the director of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce Sanja Ivanić.

After the reception organized by the Mayor of Kragujevac Nikola Dašić, the talks on the economic cooperation continued in the premises of the Regional Chamber of Commerce of the Šumadija and Pomoravlje district.

Kragujevac is the first city to respond to the initiative which includes meetings and talks not only between the mayor and the French ambassador, but also the talks between chambers of commerce and “B2B” meetings of potential investors. I think that this is an excellent initiative for improving the cooperation between investors from France and Serbia. We already have good relations with France. Over 80% of French investments in the entire region are in Serbia, which means that we are a country that attracts reliable investors and we should certainly continue promoting the cooperation – says the Mayor Dašić.

“Bonjour Kragujevac” is an initiative of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce which aims to connect the development of French companies with the development of the city of Kragujevac which also has a tendency of the development of high technologies.

It was my pleasure to exchange opinions with the Mayor of Kragujevac Nikola Dašić on the already existing cooperation even in areas such as Francophonie. We want to develop our cooperation in that area, but also in some new fields such as environmental protection which is an important issue in the national framework of Serbia – says the ambassador of the French Republic to Serbia.
One of the issues discussed is the succeeding contest announcement regarding the concept of sustainable cities. The idea is for the cities to present their sustainable development projects in terms of environmental protection, waste processing and “smart city” solutions.

The French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce is the first French-Serbian business network in Serbia established in 2009 and numbering over 130 companies. The main purpose of this network is to instigate the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, to increase French investments in Serbia and consequently create new job opportunities.

That is why we came up with the idea to visit at least five regions in Serbia within the “Bonjour Serbia” initiative this year and accordingly encourage the development of the economy of Serbia and the development of the country’s cooperation with France.

Regarding our main purpose, we work closely with our partner – the French state agency “Business France” whose task is to help French companies internationalize their businesses. Our task is to support French companies which show interest in establishing businesses in Serbia in terms of export, finding partners, suppliers or starting their own companies – says Dragan Stokić, the president of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

The exchange between France and Serbia in 2020 reached one billion euros. The exchange has more than doubled since 2010 when the Interim Trade Agreement between the EU and Serbia entered into force.

The most significant export products from Serbia are car tires, frozen raspberries, cars, metal products, furniture and propulsion machines which account for almost half of total exports to France. Half of total imports are medical and pharmaceutical products, cars and industrial machinery, while essential oils and perfumes are in the fourth place.