Dr Aleksandra Tomić, a member of parliament, President of the Finance, State Budget and Public Expenditure Control Committee of the Serbian Parliament and President of the Parliamentary Friendship Group – Italy, is one of the recipients of a plaque given to her by Confindustria for her contribution to cooperation and support of the Assocation’s work. We are talking to Dr Tomić about the cooperation between parliamentary groups and business associations from the two countries with the aim of boosting Serbia’s economic development and growth.
What quality can the parliamentary friendship bring to the bilateral cooperation? What do you consider to be the greatest contribution of the Parliamentary Friendship Group – Italy?
— A sheer number of parliamentary friendship groups in the Serbian National Parliament shows that the Republic of Serbia leads an active and responsible foreign policy towards all the countries in the world. Parliamentary diplomacy is an important part of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. A good relationship between Italy and Serbia has a long history. The following year we are going to mark 140 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. The Republic of Italy provides strong support to Serbia in the European integration
process, plus the European Parliament plays an important role too. In that light, parliamentary cooperation holds a great importance in the fact that Serbia has opened 14 out of 35 chapters in accession negotiation with the EU. Also, regional cooperation is important for the political dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and Italy is helping this process through the trilateral mechanism of contacts. The Serbian Parliament has 10 permanent parliamentary delegations, including the Central European Initiative (CEI), based in Rome, with our MPs actively participating in
their work together with Italian MPs. Also, the fact that the Serbian Parliament’s Commission fpr Determination of the Consequences of NATO’s Bombing has started to work is of great importance. The Commission was created as a result of the parliamentary cooperation and the courage shown by Italian MPs in opening this issue in 2002.
How many members does your group have and what are their duties?
— Together with Italy, our Parliamentary Group has 72 members and is one of the largest friendship groups in terms of the number of MPs. The task of each parliamentary group is to cooperate and exchange experiences in the legislative area, electoral and control function of the parliaments, as well as jointly participating in the work of international institutions.
You are the recipient of Confindustria’s plaque for your contribution to cooperation and the support of the Association’s work. What motivated you to support the Association?
— Since 2014, the importance of the fact that we have 600 Italian companies operating in Serbia, creation of new jobs and legislative obstacles in economic reforms have all been the reasons for a stronger and direct cooperation between Confindustria and the Serbian Parliament. The economic cooperation between our two countries is an indication that Italy is a strategic partner of Serbia and that Italy is the biggest importer of Serbian products and the second biggest economic partner in terms of import. All of this has resulted in creation of 25,000 new jobs.
What are your further plans regarding the work done by the Parliamentary Friendship Group?
— We should bolster the existing cooperation, as new political platforms have been established in the cooperation
between the countries that are EU candidates like, for instance, the Western Balkan countries. The aim is to maintain the existing parliamentary cooperation, foster the relationship between the two parliaments, develop the cooperation through the EU Parliament, the Council of Europe, the NATO Assembly, the Mediterranean Assembly, the Interparlam Parliament., Union and CEI, trilateral mechanism and bilateral cooperation with a special emphasis
on presenting the truth about the consequences of NATO bombing.