The Vice-President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali spoke with the Ambassador of Finland to Serbia, Kim Lahdevirta about the cooperation between the two countries, as well as the implementation of the Green Agenda.
Mali and Lahdevirta discussed Serbia’s membership in the Coalition of Finance Ministers regarding climate change, and the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that Serbia will join the aforementioned coalition and that he hopes other countries in the region will do the same.
The Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the invitation to join the mentioned coalition and pointed out that this is an extremely important topic, to which the Government of Serbia has devoted itself in the last few years.
He added that Serbia issued the first green bond in 2021, as the first country in the region and the only country outside the European Union, and that it solved the multi-decade problem of the landfill in Vinča, as well as that within the “Clean Serbia” project, purification factories are being built waste water and sewage network.
Mali also emphasized that the Norwegian company “Ristad” was hired to support the transformation of the energy sector, as well as that investment in that sector is an absolute priority of the Government.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the most important thing for Serbia is that its economy continues to grow, as well as that the implementation of projects from the Green Agenda is a good source of growth.
Lahdevirt congratulated Minister Mal on the “Reformer of the Year” award, awarded by NALED, and in that context emphasized the importance of digitization for reform processes.
He added that Finland is the most digitally advanced country in Europe.
In this regard, Mali pointed out that a consultant from Finland, who was also a director in that administration in his country, is participating in the transformation and modernization of the Tax Administration.
He also announced that new important projects in the Customs Administration, such as eOtpremnice, will follow, and that, together with the already existing eInvoices, a very important process taking place in the economy will be rounded off, according to the statement of the Ministry of Finance.