KRAGUJEVAC – Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Serbia, Emanuel Žiofre, said today that the European Union will support the program of further digitization of Serbia through the recently adopted Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which gives the region, including Serbia, access to additional financial aid of six billion euros in the period from 2024 to 2027.
During a tour of the State DATA Center in Kragujevac, together with the Ambassador of Italy to Serbia Luka Gori, the Ambassador of Slovakia Mihal Pavuk, the Minister of Information and Telecommunications of Serbia Mihailo Jovanović, and the Mayor of Kragujevac, Nikola Dašić, he pointed out that Serbia has already done a lot in the past years in in the field of digitization and, accordingly, is part of the European Digital Program and part of the High Performance Computing Program.
According to him, the digitization of Serbia has priority in the adopted Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, the goal of which is to increase the integration of the entire Western Balkans with the European Union, primarily with the EU’s single market. In this context, he added, digitization is a high priority.
“The growth plan will be implemented on two fronts – on the one hand, it will be aimed at reforms that must be achieved in the field of digitalization, and on the other hand, we will have available financial resources that will serve for the implementation of specific projects.” The total value of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, for the next three years, is six billion euros, and a part of that money is intended for Serbia, where we expect, when we talk about digitization, numerous effective ideas”, said Žiofre.
The Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Mihailo Jovanović, reminded that Serbia has already implemented several important projects with the European Union, among which the broadband internet construction project is underway, with the aim of introducing high-speed internet to every village in Serbia by the end of 2025.
“I remind you that practically, last year, through the ‘Digital Europe’ project, we actually became an equal member of the European Union when it comes to digitalization, management of supercomputers and digital skills,” said Jovanović.
He used today’s visit of the ambassadors of the European Union, Italy and Slovakia to Kragujevac to present Serbia’s further plans within the project “Serbia 2027 – a leap into the future”, among which are the expansion of the State DATA Center in Kragujevac and further investment in supercomputer capacities.
As he said, in February, Serbia started the construction of a large Innovation District in Kragujevac, which will have more than 60,000 square meters, and with funds from this year’s budget, around 5,000 square meters of the first Innovation District building is being built, which will be completed by the middle of next year.
“But, through the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, in agreement with the European Union, it is an opportunity to provide additional funds for the construction of the other buildings of the Innovation District as soon as possible, so that it will be completed by the end of 2027,” announced Jovanović, reports Tanjug.
