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The Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) have founded the Digital Platform for Circular Economy (CE-HUB). As it was explained at the online conference during the launching of the platform, it will support companies through business models, good practice and other tools, to facilitate the development of the circular business model, reduce the carbon footprint in production processes and products and maintain competitiveness in the European and international market.

– CE-HUB represents a source of knowledge and activities intended primarily for the Serbian economy, in order to turn to green investments – said Mihailo Vesović, Director of the Division for Strategic Analyses, Services and Internationalization of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, at a conference attended by more than 160 representatives of companies, local governments and institutions.

According to Žarko Petrović, Programme Specialist – Resilient Development at UNDP, there are currently several thousand dump sites in Serbia that are polluting the environment, and the development of the recycling industry could open 30,000 new jobs by 2030.

– Circular economy: reuse, repurposing or recycling of materials could reduce 33 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. UNDP supports and finances the development of circular business models in Serbia, such as Jugo-Impex E.E.R. and company Eso Tron Ltd. Given the EU Green Deal and Serbia’s new climate strategic framework, we believe that circular economy is an opportunity to make the economy greener, resilient and sustainable – said Petrović.

Antoine Avignon, Program Manager at the EU Delegation in Serbia for Environment and Climate Change, explained how important the platform for promoting the circular economy in Serbia is. According to Avignon, the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans is a good framework and in cooperation with UNDP study on green finance will be prepared, which will help to define tools for financing green business.

– In the previous year two strategic documents were adopted, with a goal to improve the environment of the circular economy, one is a proposal for defining specific public policies in this area, and the other is the new Industrial Policy Strategy of Serbia – said Tomislav Knežević from GIZ.

Marko Pećanac, Foreign Investment Advisor at the Office of the President of the Republic of Serbia, invited companies, especially members of the Green Alliance, to propose in cooperation with the PKS potential solutions to address regulatory

barriers as effectively as possible and to make Serbia a regional leader in this field. As he pointed out, the President and the Government of the Republic of Serbia are giving their full support to the green transition.

Siniša Mitrović, Head of the Centre for Circular Economy of the PKS stressed out that the transition to a circular economy will increase the resilience of the Serbian economy to climate change, and GDP by 1 percent.

– For the green transition to come to life, the most important thing is the transfer of knowledge and access to finance for companies – said Mitrović and added that CE-HUB’s activities will focus on cooperation with the Green Alliance and “green managers” dealing with the circular economy in companies.

Nenad Miščević, CEO of the Nectar Group, pointed out that the company is proud to be one of the founders of the Alliance for Green Transformation, as well as that Nektar has invested more than 7 million euros in a biogas plant in Bačka Palanka and biomass plant in Vladičin Han.

– These investments make it possible for us to use organic waste from fruit processing and other organic materials for the production of green energy and organic fertilizer for our fruit plantations – said Miščević and added that this company is committed to reducing emissions by 20% by 2030.

Representatives of the Bosis, Ball Packaging Europe and Strauss Adriatic announced more intensive activities to modernize production processes, in order to reduce the carbon footprint of products and increase the use of renewable energy sources in production.

Companies in Green Alliance: Bosis, Strauss Adriatic, Ball Packaging, Division Visual Solutions, Green Fusion Energy, ElixirEnergy, Coca Cola HBC Srbija, Trayal Corporation, Avista-Oil, Knjaz Miloš, Eso Tron, E-Reciklaža, Nectar, Bio Energo Partner MD, Institut Eko-privrede Stara Pazova, Stejpak, PUC Toplana-Šabac, Association 3E, Cirekon, Umka Cardboard Mill, Science and Technology Park Niš, Polipak.

For more information about the Platform for Circular Economy: https://www.circulareconomy-serbia.com/