Berlin: Ambassador Janković online panellist on business opportunities for women in Europe

03. Mar 2022.
Responding to the invitation of the Touro College in Berlin, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Berlin H.E. Ms. Snežana Janković, took part on the eve of Women's Day in the online panel discussion entitled "Unexplored business opportunities for women in Europe".

In her presentation, Ambassador Janković pointed out that the Republic of Serbia has made significant steps in improving the position of women on the national level. She also added that in the previous period, the Government of Serbia adopted two important documents - the Law on Gender Equality and the Strategy for Gender Equality covering the period from 2021 to 2030.

Ambassador Janković also emphasized that Serbia is the first country outside the EU to calculate the Gender Equality Index, which has shown a constant improvement year after year, corroborated by the fact that in 2021. Serbia ranked 19th, thus being ahead of nine EU member states.

Ambassador Janković stated that the improved status of women also led to greater participation of women in politics and pointed out that, in the current convocation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, among 250 MPs, some 46% are women. H.E. Janković indicated that according to the latest surveys, among 190 analyzed parliaments in the world, Serbia ranked 30th considering the number of women MPs.

With regards to business opportunities for women in Serbia, Ambassador Janković pointed out that there is a growing number of women who hold key positions in the economy, such as CEO's of large banks, media outlets and large companies. The Ambassador emphasized that the stable economic situation in Serbia has strengthened entrepreneurship and the launch of private companies, of which about 30% are owned by women.

Ambassador Janković stressed that the Government of the Republic of Serbia is helping women entrepreneurs by providing grants and favourable loans through a specific Ministry of Economy program worth one million euros.

Taking part in the panel discussion besides Ambassador Janković, were the ambassadors of Romania and Cyprus to Berlin. After their interventions the ambassadors responded to questions from the audience, which comprised professors and students from the Touro College, as well as members of the public.