Today, at the National Assembly House, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia , Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic opened a two-day seminar titled “The role of knowledge, innovation and human capital in multifunctional agriculture and territorial rural development”, organised by the European Association of Agricultural Economists and the Institute of Agricultural Economics.

Addressing the participants, the Assembly Speaker pointed out that agriculture and rural communities have always played a special role in Serbia’s development, particularly in the time of transitional reform, stressing that this year only the agricultural sector had realised positive results thus helping alleviate the drop in the country’s gross domestic product. The Assembly Speaker added that the current convocation of the National Assembly had adopted a set of 15 agricultural laws thus providing the basis to stimulate competitiveness, production of healthy food and raise the standard of living of agricultural producers. The adoption of this set of laws represents great progress in the area of harmonisation of domestic regulations with the European Union’s legal legacy. The Assembly Speaker announced the adoption of a new set of laws next year which would be the object of public debate. Djukic-Dejanovic congratulated the Institute on 60 years of successful existence and work and wished it success in the further research mission and participation in multilateral projects realised through the European Union’s pre-accession funds.

On the occasion, the Director of the Institute of Agricultural Economics, Dr Drago Cvijanovic, presented the National Assembly Speaker with a letter of gratitude for her personal contribution, as well as the National Assembly’s contribution to the work and development of the Belgrade Institute of Agricultural Economics.

The seminar, organised by the European Association of Agricultural Economists and the Institute of Agricultural Economics, is held on 9 and 10 December at the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and gathers scientists from 26 countries of the region and Europe.