Programme

Traditional friendship, cultural, linguistic and religious similarity and closeness characterize Russian-Serbian relations. Russia is a strategic, political and economic partner, as well as one of the leading foreign trade partners of Serbia. Serbia was and to this day remains Russia's key partner in South-Eastern Europe. However, are good political relations and an active political dialogue at the highest level accompanied by equally good economic cooperation? Which areas of the Serbian market are the ones that could use stronger presence of Russian companies and Russian capital, where are the unused hidden potentials? Are there any other areas Serbian economy has to offer for further developing and collaboration, besides the already traditional agricultural products export and construction services? Perhaps tourism and the auto industry?

Moderator:
Marijana Krkic , Editor, Financial Analyst, Tanjug News Agency

Panellists:
Aleksandr Babakov , Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreing Affairs, Council of Federation of the Russian Federation
Branislav Grujic , President, PSP-Farman Holding SA
Ivica Dacic , Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
Kirill Kravchenko , Member of the Board of Directors, NIS jsc Novi Sad
Alexander Misharin , First Vice President, Russian Railways
Branislav Nedimovic , Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia
Dmitriy Pankin , Chairman of the Management Board, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB)
Nenad Popovic , President, ABS Electro
Dmitry Rogozin , Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Anatoliy Tikhonov , General Director, Russian Energy Center of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation
Marko Cadez , President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Serbia

Aleksandr Babakov

Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreing Affairs, Council of Federation of the Russian Federation

Education: 1985 – Lomonosov Moscow State University (Economist, Political Economy Instructor) 1988 – Graduate studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University State awards: 2008 – Order of Friendship 2017 – Order of Honour Academic degrees: Candidate of Economic Sciences Position prior to election (appointment): Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the sixth convocation, Member of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Deputy of the Tambov Regional Duma of the sixth convocation on a non-permanent basis.

Branislav Grujic

President, PSP-Farman Holding SA

Branislav Grujić, mechanical engineer, born in 1961 in Belgrade. Coowner and co-president of PSP–Farman Holding, one of the five leading companies in construction and development in Moscow and Moscow region. This company is engaged in design, development, construction and equipping of facilities. Through a network of representative of- fices and subsidiary companies, it operates in the territory of the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Belgium, Italy and Serbia. With over 3000 employees, the company has so far built over 2,000,000 m2 of factory, office, commercial, residential and recreational sports facilities. In Serbia, the PSP-Farman Holding owns a large portfolio of properties, while the construction of two major projects, WEST 65 and Cortyard by Marriott hotel, is currently underway. After primary and secondary education in Germany and Serbia, he graduated in mechanical engineering at the University of Belgrade and finished graduate studies in Karlsruhe, Germany. Early in his career Mr. Grujić achieved a significant success as a teaching assistant in Theoretical Mechanics at the University of Belgrade. He participated in conferences in Serbia and abroad and worked on numerous commercial projects. In 1992 he became Executive of the Department of Engineering at “Jugodrvo” and remained in that position until 1994 when he decided to leave Yugoslavia. In May 2010 he was elected president of the Serbian Business Club “Businessman”. He is Co-chairman of the intergovernmental organization “Russian-Serbian Business Dialogue” (RSBD) and a member of the Serbian Association of Corporate Directors. Also he is President of the Serbian Business Council Russia-Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Vice-President of the National Council for the economic recovery under the Serbian Government. He is active in various fields of sports and humanitarian work. He has received numerous awards for professional achievements including several “Manager of the Year” titles in Serbia and Central and Eastern Europe. In 2012 he got the award for “The Best European” in the economy. Fluent in German, English, Russian and Italian. He is the father of three sons.

Ivica Dacic

Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia

Born in 1966, Prizren. He received his BA degree from the School of Political Science, University of Belgrade. He served on the Delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He chaired his party's Parliamentary Group in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and in the Assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. From 1992 to 2004 he was delegate in the Chamber of Citizens of the Federal Assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, 2004 to present. He was appointed Minister of Information in the so-called transitional Government of the Republic of Serbia, October 2000 - January 2001. He became the Leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia in December 2006. He was the President of the Basketball Club Partizan Belgrade and Vice President of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, July 2008 - July 2012. He was Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, July 2012 - April 2014.On 27 April 2014, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Recipient of The Best European award in 2009. Speaks English and Russian. Married, two children.

Alexander Misharin

First Vice President, Russian Railways

Alexander Misharin was born in 1959. He graduated from the Urals State University of Railway Transport as a Railway Transport Electrification in 1981. He obtained his second university degree, in economics, from the same university in 1997. Misharin has a CSc degree in economics and a DSc in engineering.He started out as an electrician and rose through the company to become chief engineer of Sverdlovsk Railway. He served as Deputy, First Deputy Minister of the Railways, Chief of Sverdlovsk Railway, Director of the Department for Integrated Development of the Infrastructure of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, and Director of the Department for Industry and Infrastructure of the Central Office of the Government of the Russian Federation.He was Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region from 2009 to 2012.Alexander Misharin became First Vice-President of Russian Railways JSCo in December 2012.

Branislav Nedimovic

Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

Born in 1977 in Sremska Mitrovica. Finished elementary and high school in his hometown. Graduated from the Faculty of Law - University of Novi Sad. From 2004 until 2008 he was elected as a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Serbia. Subsequently served two terms as Mayor of Sremska Mitrovica, from 2008 until 2016. In 2016 he was elected member of the SNS Presidency. Appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia on 11th of August 2016. Married and has two children.

Dmitriy Pankin

Chairman of the Management Board, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB)

The Chairman of the Management Board manages the operations of the Bank and the Management Board in compliance with the Bank’s Charter. The Chairman of the Management Board is elected for four years. The Chairman is answerable to the Bank’s Board regarding resolutions, organization of the Bank’s activities and the Bank’s performance. The competences of the Chairman of the Management Board are specified in the Bank’s charter. Dmitry Pankin graduated from the Political Economy Department of the Leningrad State University named after Andrey Zhdanov, and is a candidate of economics. He had professional development courses at Bocconi University in Milan and the City University Business School in London. In 1999-2000, Dmitry Pankin headed a department at RAO UES of Russia. In 2000-2003, he chaired the Board at the St. Petersburg Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2004-2011, he worked as Deputy Director and then Director of the Department for International Financial Relations, Public Debt and Public Financial Assets at the Russian Ministry of Finance, and then as Deputy Minister of Finance. In 2011-2013, he headed the Federal Financial Markets Service of the Russian Federation. In 2013-2015, Dmitry Pankin was Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation. On 6 February 2015 he was appointed as the Chairman of the Management Board at EDB. Dmitry Pankin was awarded the Second Class Medal of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland in 2007 and the Order of Friendship in 2011, and received acknowledgement letters from the President and the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation. Dmitry Pankin is an active First Class State Counsellor of the Russian Federation.

Nenad Popovic

President, ABS Electro

Nenad Popović was born in Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1966. In 1991, he graduated from the University of Belgrade. He started his own business as he had successful experience as an employee of leading Western companies. In 1994, he founded a company, which later became an electric power holding company that employs over 3,000 people. He is currently the owner and president of ABS Electro. The company’s enterprises have been in business for more than half a century and they have always been and still are the leading ones in the field. In 2016, the company’s annual turnover exceeded RUB 10 bln. Its production facilities are located in Cheboksary and Saint Petersburg, and its Head Office is in Moscow. In 2014, Nenad Popović founded the Serbian People’s Party (SNP), which is focused on political and economic rapprochement with Russia. In March 2014, as Vice-President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, he was the head international observer of the electoral process in a referendum on the status of Crimea. He was awarded the Order of Friendship for contribution to the development of economic and social relationships between Serbia and Russia; the decree was signed by the President of the Russian Federation in 2010. In 2002, Nenad Popović established ABS Slavyanskiy charitable foundation. Since then, the foundation is vigorous in helping those in need. It implements child support programs, develops and carries out projects in the fields of culture, science, education, sports, and healthcare. Since its establishment, the foundation has organized a lot of events involving cultural professionals, music groups, artists, athletes, and journalists. It also carried out projects so patients could receive medical treatment from the leading Russian physicians. There are educational and other fundraisers to support orphaned children in Russia in Serbia being organized on a regular basis. Since 2003, Nenad Popović has been teaching at the Department of Economy of Foreign Countries and International Economic Relations of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Since 2001, he has been Professor at the Department of Economics and Mining Operations Planning of the Moscow State Mining University. Years of his academic activity resulted in 90 scientific papers on economics and regional development and 7 books.

Dmitry Rogozin

Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation

Born December 21, 1963 in Moscow, into the family of Oleg Rogozin, a prominent organiser of the Soviet defence industry and military science. Education 1986: Graduated with distinction from the International Department of the Journalism Faculty at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. 1988: Graduated with distinction from the Economic Faculty of the Marxism-Leninism University of the Moscow City Committee of the Soviet Communist Party. Experience 1990-1994: Vice President of the Research and Educational Organisation RAU-Corporation. 1994-1997: Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Congress of Russian Communities. 1997-2007: Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of three convocations; Deputy Chairman of the Security Committee; Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Head of the Delegation of the Russian Federal Assembly in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Head of the Rodina (Motherland) Parliamentary Party and Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly. 1998: Taught a special course, National Security, at the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. 2002-2004: Special Presidential Representative for the Kaliningrad Region on the Expansion of the European Union. 2008-2011: Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium. February 2011 – 2012: Special Presidential Representative on Anti-Missile Defence and Negotiations with NATO Countries on This Issue. December 23, 2011: Appointed Deputy Prime Minister. March 21, 2012: Appointed Special Presidential Representative for Transdnestria. May 21, 2012: Reappointed Deputy Prime Minister by a Presidential Executive Order. From January 17, 2012: Heads the Government’s Military-Industrial Commission. From February 15, 2012: First Deputy Chairman of the “Victory” Organising Committee. From June 26, 2012: Chairman of the Marine Board of the Government. Holds a DSc (Philosophy and Theories of Wars) degree. DSc in Engineering, specialising in the theory of armaments, military and technical policy, and weapons systems. Has written a number of books on military strategy and politics. Served as Editor in Chief of the “War and Peace in Terms and Definitions” Glossary of Military Terminology, which was published in 2004 and 2011. Received a weapon with a personal inscription engraved on it for ensuring the release of hostages seized by terrorist groups in the Chechen Republic in 1996-1999. Holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Married, with a son and two grandsons.

Marko Cadez

President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Serbia

Marko Čadež is President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS) and a member of the EUROCHAMBRES' Board of Directors from a non-EU country. He was elected President of the CCIS in December 2014 from his previous positions of Vice President in charge of modernization of the chamber system and Director of the CCIS Representative Offices in Germany and Austria. He is a member of the Economic Council of the Serbian Development Agency. He served as President of the Managing Board of the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA). He is a communications and Serbian – German relations expert and one of the founders and a member of the Managing Board of the Serbia – Germany Forum. He was born on 1 June 1977 in Belgrade. He completed his studies in Germany and graduated from the Academy for Marketing Communications in Frankfurt in 2001. From 2003 till his arrival to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, he was employed with the German Embassy in Belgrade as its Spokesperson for nearly a decade. He was the Deutsche Welle Coordinator for Serbia and Montenegro as well as a Programme Coordinator and Advisor for politics and communications with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Belgrade. He speaks German and English.