The International and Security Affairs Centre – ISAC Fund, organized a panel discussion “Challenges to Multilateral Tradе – What can we expect and why this is significant to Serbia” on Thursday, July 5, at the premises of the EU Info Center in Belgrade.
The panel was organized to discuss the effects of the ongoing crisis in the international trade arena that began with the US imposing tariffs against several countries and custom unions earlier this year, as well as their causal reaction through the WTO. Furthermore, the panel discussed the outcomes of the crisis to the process of accession of several candidate states. These topics are important for Serbia due to its obligation to join the WTO as a part of the EU accession process.
The panelists agreed that there is no alternative to the WTO. Moreover, they are optimistic when it comes to the survival and future of this organization. This is supported by the fact that in spite of the aforementioned challenges, third countries are not giving up on WTO integrations, rather they are intensifying and accelerating this process.
The event was supported by the Fund for Open Society and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. ISAC has been dealing with Serbia’s accession to the WTO as part of Chapter 30 accession negotiations, and you can find more information on that process here.
Panel participants included:
Olivera Jocić – Assistant Minister for Foreign Trade Policy, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia
Bojana Todorović – Independent Expert and Former Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia
Predrag Bjelić – Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade
Moderated by Igor Novaković, ISAC Research Director