Swiss Parliamentarians Visit the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia | Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Swiss Confederation

The Vice-President of the National Assembly and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Marina Raguš, met in the National Assembly with members of the National Council of the Parliament of the Swiss Confederation, Andreas Glarner and Christian Imark, who also serves as Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Serbia in the Swiss Parliament. The meeting was attended by H.E. Anne Lugon-Moulin, Ambassador of Switzerland to Serbia, as well as H.E. Dr. Ivan Trifunović, Ambassador of Serbia to Switzerland.

Marina Raguš highlighted the good and long-standing relations between Serbia and Switzerland, noting that next year marks the 110th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Speaking about economic cooperation, Raguš emphasized that 549 Swiss companies operate in Serbia, employing more than 12,000 Serbian citizens. She pointed out that Serbia is experiencing strong growth in the IT sector and innovation infrastructure, including science and technology parks and data centers, and stressed that these areas offer significant potential for further deepening cooperation with Switzerland, including in the education sector.

In her discussion with the Swiss parliamentarians, the Vice-President of the National Assembly noted that there is substantial room for intensifying interparliamentary cooperation—both at the bilateral level, through closer cooperation between parliamentary committees and friendship groups, and at the multilateral level, within international parliamentary organizations and forums.

Swiss parliamentarians Glarner and Imark agreed that there is considerable potential for strengthening relations between Serbia and Switzerland across various sectors, particularly in the economy, and emphasized that parliamentary cooperation can play an important role in promoting new initiatives. They also agreed that the regional initiative “Open Balkan” provides a good opportunity for expanding Switzerland’s economic relations with the entire Western Balkans region.

The meeting also highlighted the importance of Switzerland’s upcoming OSCE Chairmanship. Marina Raguš informed her counterparts about the difficult situation of the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija, noting that their basic human and civil rights are being denied. She underlined that KFOR forces remain the guarantor of the security and safety of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, and emphasized that the Community of Serb Municipalities, the only obligation Pristina assumed under the Brussels Agreement, has not been established even more than a decade after the agreement was signed. She stated that this seriously hampers further dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and stressed that Switzerland’s support on this matter, particularly in the context of its OSCE Chairmanship, would be of exceptional importance.