Russia to assist Serbia in creating, maintaining oil transportation infrastructure
ST. PETERSBURG/MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax) - Russia and Serbia have signed a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries' major oil and gas companies, which will be the basis for creating and maintaining oil transportation infrastructure in Serbia, Russia's Economic Development Ministry said following a meeting of the intergovernmental committee on trade, economic and scientific-technical cooperation.
"We propose to our Serbian colleagues to launch a joint venture to select seeds of sunflower and corn hybrids in agriculture," Russia's Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said in the press release.
"We plan to create a Russia-Serbia department of nuclear medicine for the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases in healthcare," he added.
"Russia-Serbia tourism is another important growth area for interaction between the two economies. Serbia shares first place with Turkey in the number of Russian tourists. According to forecasts from the Russia's Economic Development Ministry, this year's figures could be twice as high as the pre-Covid figures," Reshetnikov said.
"We have given our Serbian colleagues a draft tourism roadmap for 2025-2026. We plan to promote the tourism potential of our countries and incentivize investment in promising Russian projects. We have presented our partners with a catalogue of thirty promising investment projects, including large Russian resorts, theme parks and hotels," he said.
Transneft Vice President Vladimir Kalanda told reporters following the intergovernmental committee meeting that Transnafta Pancevo plans to diversify oil supplies to Serbia.
"They currently have one pipeline that goes from Croatia. They plan to build a pipeline that goes through Hungary and directly to the Druzhba pipeline. This will allow them to be more independent in oil supplies and significantly increase the volumes of oil that are supplied to Serbia for domestic consumption," Kalanda said.
Kalanda said the pipeline would be about 300 kilometers in length. "Serbia is asking us for assistance. We are ready to assist in implementing the project," he noted.