INTERVIEW In post-COVID era, Korea urged to capitalize on Serbia 2025 development project
Charge d'Affaires ad interim Aleksandar Dordevic of the Serbian Embassy in Korea speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the embassy in Seoul, Feb. 2. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Balkan state marks national holiday on Feb. 15
By Yi Whan-woo
Serbia's push to use the 30th anniversary of its ties with Korea in 2019 to improve bilateral relations seemed likely to lose steam when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out last year.
However, the two countries rather witnessed their potential for a broader partnership through health and medical cooperation against the coronavirus, says Charge d'Affaires ad interim Aleksandar Dordevic at the Serbian Embassy in Seoul.
For the occasion of Statehood Day ― Serbia's national holiday on Feb. 15 ― Dordevic said this is the right time for the two countries to consider further expanding the bilateral partnership.
This would include investments in accordance with Serbia 2025, a 14 billion euro ($15.7 billion) development project announced by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Dec. 28, 2019, a day after the 30th anniversary of Serbia-Korea ties.
Trade, energy, e-government, smart city, smart farming, waste management, agriculture, education, culture and tourism are on the list of areas of cooperation.
“Korea is one of our most important partners in the Asia and Pacific region … And the Korean side's friendly attitude toward Serbia last year embodies the meaning of the old proverb ― a friend in need is a friend indeed,” Dordevic told The Korea Times during a recent interview at the embassy to mark Statehood Day.
Last year, Serbia purchased ventilators, masks, test kits and other equipment from Korea. It also operated flights between Seoul and Serbia's capital of Belgrade to transport citizens of the two countries, an exceptional measure considering the Balkan state and many other European countries closed their borders.
Korea donated more than $300,000 worth of medical equipment to Serbia.
“We have to point out that Serbia and Korea established an excellent cooperation in the fight against the pandemic that has had a negative and disruptive influence globally in all spheres of life,” Dordevic said.
The public health and safety environment, according to Dordevic, is improving in Serbia as the country is showing significant results in fight against pandemic, after witnessing more than 400,000 COVID-19 cases including over 4,100 deaths.
In the Balkan region, Serbia has the lowest mortality rate at 1.01 percent. It is ranked third in the number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests ― a type of coronavirus test ― conducted.
Serbia started mass vaccinations on Jan. 19, and currently ranks second in Europe and sixth in the world by the cumulative COVID-19 vaccination doses administered per 100 people.
A night view of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia / Courtesy of Embassy of Serbia in Korea
Economy, Serbia 2025 project
Serbia's economy offers bright prospects for bilateral economic relations, with its growth being among the highest in Europe.
The country's economy grew 5.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020, but shrank 6.3 percent in the second quarter, only to grow 1.4 percent in the third. In contrast, the eurozone economy shrank 3.2 percent, 14.7 percent and 4.3 percent in the first three quarters of 2020.
Under such circumstances, Serbia, an EU candidate country, attracted $3 billion in foreign direct investment.
Serbia is a manufacturing hub connected to markets of almost 1 billion people across Europe, offering tax incentives, duty free exports, well-trained English-proficient workers, free trade agreements with Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Belarus, as well as customs-free access to Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries.
Despite being a land-locked country, Serbia has a favorable geographic position, too, bordering east and west as a gateway to Europe.
Two of the 10 Pan-European Corridors, VII and X, add to Serbia's connections with Western Europe and the Middle East.
Pan-European Corridors VII refers to the 2,300-kilometer-long Danube River, and X to highways and railroads that run between Salzburg in Austria and Thessaloniki in Greece.
“Serbia is a perfect place for a company to locate its operations if it wants to closely and most efficiently serve its EU, Southeast Europe or Middle East customers. Serbia is able to provide services and transport goods in projected and flexible time frames,” Dordevic said
The interim chief of the Serbian diplomatic mission said Serbia 2025 “could also be of particular interest for Korean conglomerates.”
Running from 2020 to 2025, Serbia 2025 is aimed at boosting living standards and helping bring vital infrastructure closer to standards in the European Union. The related projects encompass the construction of roads, water pipelines, sewage, sports and tourism infrastructure, IT sector, renewable energy and environmental protection sectors.
Currently, LS Group, Yura Corp. and Kyungshin are three major Korean companies operating plants in Serbia, with all three being affiliated with auto parts businesses.
Samsung Electronics has a branch office, while LG, Hyundai Motor, Kia and other major affiliates of the Korean conglomerates have not advanced into Serbia yet.
“They are well-known in Serbia for their high quality, affordable prices and reliability,” Dordevic said.
Nevertheless, Korean investments in Serbia and overall economic cooperation are “far below the potentials of our economies,” he said. “The intention of the Serbian government is to significantly change this situation in the years to come.”
He added, “Serbia attaches the highest priority to the economic cooperation and the Serbian embassy in Seoul is focused on boosting economic relations with Korea by attracting more Korean investors to Serbia.”
Diversifying export items is another area of Serbian interest concerning Korea.
The Balkan state is one of the largest non-GMO corn exporters to Korea, with its latest sales peaking at 321,000 tons in 2015.
Other Serbian products which Dordevic found competitive in the Korean market included frozen fruits, foods, sweets, wines, hard liquor, mineral water and high-quality furniture.
Referring back to Statehood Day, Dordevic said Serbia can appeal to Korean tourists who visited the Balkans and Southeast Europe in huge numbers before the pandemic.
The late Roman fortified palace compound and memorial complex of Gamzigrad-Romuliana, the imperial Palace of Galerius, is a UNESCO-registered site in eastern Serbia. / Courtesy of Embassy of Serbia in Korea
The Silhouette of Victor monument is a symbol of Belgrade. / Courtesy of Embassy of Serbia in Korea
St. Sava's Temple is one of the largest orthodox temples in the world. / Courtesy of Embassy of Serbia in Korea
The “Beli Andjeo” (White Angel) fresco in the 13th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery of Mileseva is one of the finest examples of Serbian and European medieval art. / Courtesy of Embassy of Serbia in Korea
History, tourism
Statehood Day commemorates the outbreak of outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising, Feb. 15, 1804 as well as creation of the first democratic Constitution in 1835.
Together with successive revolutionary movements including the Second Serbian Uprising, the 1804 event against Ottoman rule laid the foundation for a modern Serbia.
Dordevic said Serbia is known for its eventful and turbulent history and has many things in common with Korea, noting they have been surrounded and squeezed by major powers but managed to preserve their statehood, culture, language and way of living.
“We are dedicated to promoting more of Serbia's tourism potential on the Korean market, since our country has so much to offer,” he added.
Among the tourist attractions recommended by Dordevic are medieval Serbian Orthodox Christian monasteries with astonishing frescoes, UNESCO-registered monuments and ancient Roman archeological sites that are related to 17 Roman emperors born in the territory of today's Serbia; boat cruises on the Danube River; national parks with preserved and pristine wild nature; and Belgrade, one of the oldest cities in Europe founded more than 2,000 years ago by the Celtic tribe Scordisci.
Regarding pending issues with Kosovo and Metohija, Dordevic noted Serbia is dedicated to dialogue with Pristina provisional institutions, and is committed to implementing the Brussels and Washington Agreements, made and signed under the auspices of the EU and the U.S. in 2013 and 2020, respectively.
Such moves are to improve the lives of both Albanian and Serbian communities in Kosovo and Metohija, and to reach stable, comprehensive and long-lasting solutions.
A career diplomat, Dordevic joined the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998.
He is one of the longest-serving members of the Diplomatic Corps in Korea.
He came to Korea in 2014 as a counsellor and deputy chief of mission. He became the interim chief of mission this year. Before Korea, he was posted to Japan and China.