OREANDA-NEWS. July 6, 2009. The 2nd session of the Russian-Serbian business dialogue has been held in Moscow. The Forum was attended by Georgiy Poltavchenko, Authorised Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal Area; Alexander Murychev, Senior Executive Vice-President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; Andrei Borodin, President of the Bank of Moscow; Ivitsa Dacic, Senior Vice-President of the Government of Serbia; Vuk Eremic, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia; Branislav Gruic, President of the construction investment holding company PSP-Pharman; and other representatives of the Russian and Serbian political and business communities.

Speaking at the Forum’s opening ceremony, the Chairman of the Co-ordinating Council of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Central Federal Area, Co-chairman of the Russian-Serbian business dialogue, Andrei Borodin noted: "Serbia is one of Russia’s main partners in the Balkans and the volume of mutual commodity turnover between our countries in 2008 amounted to about 4 billion US dollars’ worth."

Branislav Gruic, Co-chairman of the Forum, stated that the Russian-Serbian business dialogue had real prospects for becoming an effective tool for intensifying development both of national enterprises and of joint projects, as well as a mechanism for co-ordinating business contacts.

Co-operation between Russia and Serbia is acquiring special significance during the current global financial and economic crisis. According to Georgiy Poltavchenko, Authorised Representative of the president of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal Area, Russia and Serbia must "come out of the crisis not only unharmed but standing firmly on their feet".

Russian-Serbian trade relations currently have a good potential for growth. As Ivitsa Dacic, Senior Vice-President of the Government of Serbia, stressed, "good political relations must become the basis for good economic relations".

"In order to expand co-operation between the two countries, the spheres of most interest are power, infrastructure, the banking sector and tourism", Andrei Borodin recounted. "In order to support business relations, the Bank of Moscow has registered a subsidiary structure in Belgrade. Our subsidiary bank is thus a convenient partner for Serbian companies making settlements with business partners in Russia, the Baltic States and CIS countries".

Within the scope of the event, representatives of the Russian and Serbian business communities discussed the prospects for co-operation in working groups by sector, including infrastructure projects, the power industry, manufacturing, transport, trade, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and tourism.

In May 2008, the Bank of Moscow became the first Russian credit institution to obtain a banking licence from the National Bank of Serbia. In October 2008, its subsidiary bank opened its doors to corporate clients and in June 2009 — to private clients.