Selakovic: A direct flight to India would intensify economic cooperation and tourism

24. Dec 2021.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selakovic talked today via video link with Rahul Bhatia, the Group Managing Director of Indian "InterGlobe" enterprises, which is the parent company of the largest Indian airline "IndiGo".

Minister Selakovic pointed out that our country was proud of the traditional friendship and excellent relations it had with India. He underlined in particular the very good political relations and contacts at the high and top levels, recalling that in September and October this year he had met with the Foreign Minister of India as many as three times.

The Minister informed his interlocutor about the economic reforms that were implemented in Serbia in the past seven years. He pointed out that our country had been the fastest growing economy in Europe in the past two years, and that for the third year in a row it was the leader in attracting foreign direct investments. In this context, Selakovic stated that Serbia attracted a total of 61 percent of all foreign direct investments made in our entire region.

The Head of Serbian diplomacy said that our country was open and that it wished to attract as many Indian companies as possible, emphasizing that there was a lot of room for the intensification of economic and trade cooperation.

According to Selakovic, the fact that Serbia had abolished visas for Indian citizens in 2017 was an additional benefit that should be used to the best of its potential.

The Minister also informed his interlocutor about the tourism potentials of our country – including rural, spa and mountain tourism as well as Belgrade as the fastest growing "city break" destination, and invited him to visit Serbia.

He said that since the abolition of visas for Indian citizens, we saw a constant increase in the number of tourists from that country, as well as that direct flights from Indian cities would additionally connect our countries and contribute to the development of economic cooperation, tourism and overall relations between Serbia and India.