On September 6, 2022, the Ambassador of Italy to Serbia, Luca Gori, went on an integrated promotion mission to Novi Sad, the second largest city in the country and capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The visit allowed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in a wide range of sectors, from the institutional to the economic, commercial, scientific, technological and cultural ones.
Ambassador Gori first met the Presidents of the Government and the Assembly of Vojvodina, Igor Mirovic and Istvan Pasztor, agreeing with them on the advisability to deepen the already excellent cooperation with Italy, starting from the economic sector. “Vojvodina – the Ambassador pointed out – accounts for over 30% of bilateral trade. Here we have about 120 companies operating in many sectors, ranging from insurance to textiles, from agri-food to footwear, but our goal is to attract new Italian investment in the fields of IT, renewable energy, and infrastructure”.
Ambassador Gori also met the Mayor of Novi Sad, Milos Vucevic, with whom he discussed European integration and the important celebration of Novi Sad as European Capital of Culture 2022. He said: “The twinning of this city with Modena represents an important basis for expanding our cooperation, which also has great potential for tourism and culture, as demonstrated by the events linked to Novi Sad as European Capital of Culture”.
Trade fair synergies were the focus of Ambassador Gori’s talks with the Director of the Novi Sad Fair, Slobodan Cvetkovic. During the meeting he emphasized the importance of strengthening Italy’s presence at the 90th International Agriculture Fair, scheduled for next May, which is gathering the growing interest of Italian companies in the sector towards Serbia. The Ambassador said: “We aim to strengthen our partnership in the agri-tech sector, in which Italy boasts world excellence. On top of it, we also want to be present at the other fairs in Novi Sad, starting with those dedicated to environmental sustainability and transport”.
In his talks with the Director of the Fund for European Affairs of Vojvodina, Aleksandar Simurdic, the Ambassador dwelt on regional cooperation and European funding. “Italy” – he said – is ready to provide its contribution also in terms of know-how and capacity building”.
The Ambassador then met with Prof. Vladimir Crnojevic, Director of the BioSens Institute, and Prof. Dubravko Culibrk, Director of the Institute for Research and Development of Artificial Intelligence of Serbia. With both of them he talked about research and innovation, technologies and IT solutions for biosystems, particularly for the agri-food sector.
Lastly, in the evening, the Ambassador inaugurated the exhibition Le Stagioni di Bassano della Galleria Borghese di Roma nella città di Novi Sad, organized by the Italian Embassy in Serbia and the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade thanks to the prestigious Galleria Borghese in Rome, and in collaboration with the Civic Museum of Novi Sad.
Ambassador Gori emphasised the importance of the exhibition as “an event of great relevance that fits into the context of the intense cultural relations between Italy and Serbia”, adding that “the exhibition marks a further moment of cooperation between our countries and should be considered a great tribute of Italy to Novi Sad European Capital of Culture, thus showing Italy’s will to contribute to such an important programme of events for a city rich in artistic and architectural masterpieces, as well as active and productive in many sectors”.
The exhibition will be open to the public from September 7 to October 30, 2022.
