BELGRADE – The Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) Elżbieta Bieńkowska will be visiting Belgrade on 11 May 2017 to meet with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić and other members of the Serbian government. She will attend a signing ceremony of an EU-sponsored agreement with banks which will provide support to about 6,000 Serbian SMEs as well as attend a business forum organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.
During her visit to Belgrade, Commissioner Bieńkowska will meet Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimović as well as the Minister of Economy Goran Knežević. Together with Minister Knezević she will attend the signing ceremony of agreements on guarantees between the European Investment Fund (EIF) and two Serbian banks (Unicredit and Banca Intesa). The agreements are facilitated by COSME, EU’s programme for SMEs, and will provide direct guarantees to the banks to support some 6,000 Serbian SMEs with 200 million Euro loans under favorable conditions over the next three years.
Together with Minister of Economy Goran Knezević, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marko Čadež, Acting Director of the Serbian European Integration Office Ksenija Milenković and EIF Chief Executive Pier Luigi Gilibert, Commissioner Bieńkowska will participate in the Business Forum “EU Accession: Industrial and SME Policy for growth and jobs”, organised by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
At the end of the day, Commissioner Bieńkowska will visit the Serbian Innovation Fund, which has been a beneficiary of EU funds since its founding.