30 Serbian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were awarded the E-Trustmark at the conference “E-business Development in Serbia – achievements and challenges” held in Belgrade on 16 November 2016. Thanks to EU support, the E-Trustmark principles and practice have been introduced into the business community in Serbia and a total of 66 SMEs have been awarded the E-Trustmark over the last two years.
Introductory speeches were held by Oskar Benedikt, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia, Vesna Kovač, State secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Katarina Obradovic Jovanović, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Economy and Maja Pejčić, Director of the Department for Project Management of the Development Agency of Serbia.
Benedikt has said that the introduction of E-Trustmark is one of the most important results of the project E-business Development which is funded by the EU with 2.5 million EUR. “This is not the end but the beginning of a process which introduces changes in electronic commerce Serbia, because it is inevitable for further economic growth, making profits and new jobs,” said Benedikt. He announced that the EU will continue to support the development of e-business in Serbia.
Vesna Kovač, State Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, said that Serbia has ambitious plans for the development of electronic commerce and electronic government. She added that in accordance with the Information Society Development Strategy by 2020, the goal will be the development of e-commerce, small and medium enterprises and the domestic private sector.
Certificates to the representatives of the awarded SMEs were presented by Steffen Hudolin, Head of Operations II of the EU Delegation in Serbia and Vesna Kovač.
The E-Trustmark will be valid until November 2017, after which the Center for Development of e-commerce and protection of consumers on the Internet from Novi Sad will continue accreditations and delivering the E-Trustmark to entrepreneurs in Serbia
The pilot e-Trustmark programme is just one of the achievements of the E-business Development Project funded by the European Union with 2.5 million Euros and implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications and Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia. Project results and achievements were presented by Leszek Jakubowski, project Team leader.
Over the last 2 years, the project supported the Serbian SMEs to get a better insight into e-commerce, e-business and digital applications in order to improve their competitiveness and increase consumer confidence in electronic commerce. As well as piloting the e-Trustmark programme in Serbia, the project worked closely with Serbian SMEs, providing workshops and training sessions on e-business and e-commerce to more than 700 entrepreneurs.
source: europa.rs