national bank of serbia аddress by the nbs governor at the opening ceremony of the china financial technology forum 4 september 2022, video format dr jorgovanka tabakovic, governor belgrade, august 2022 esteemed hosts and participants in the china financial technology forum, a year has passed since the previous forum and while our topic has remained the same : new age, new finance, new technologies, the conditions in which we live and work have changed significantly. nevertheless, our goal remains the same – man and his wellbeing in the 21st century. dear friends, new age and new finance call for even stronger cooperation between countries and nations. following goethe who said : tell me with whom you consort and i will tell you who you are, i can tell you that i am proud of the close cooperation the republic of serbia has developed with the people's republic of china over the past ten years. the relationship of our two countries is defined by firm partnership and mutual understanding, supported by the rock - solid friendship between the serbian president aleksandar vucic and the chinese president xi jinping. the relationship between our two countries is the best proof of the old chinese saying when brothers are as one, their strength can break even metal. this is evidenced by our economic cooperation as well. • in ten years, trade between china and serbia increased by four times. • in the first half of this year, trade with china made almost 10 % of serbia's total external trade. • a continuous upward trend in our economic cooperation is evident also in the growing share of asian countries in fdi inflows, which amounted to around 15 % from 2019 to 2021. last year, in 2021, fdi inflow from china made up 20 % of total and record - high fdi to serbia. dear colleagues, it is only natural to raise the bar of our expectations ever higher for everything that brings us good, as it is natural for financial service consumers to accept every good service we develop as something normal. the national bank of serbia, at whose helm i have been for a full decade now, has been the generator of technological changes in the market of financial services. it is these changes that have ensured to our citizens and businesses the conditions for easier, faster, simpler, cheaper and more secure transactions in the republic of serbia : – first, we significantly improved payment infrastructure in the republic of serbia, by introducing the most state - of - the - art instant payment system – n

radovan jelasic : 125th anniversary of the enactment of the first law on the national bank of serbia speech by mr radovan jelasic, governor of the national bank of serbia, on the 125th anniversary of the enactment of the first law on the national bank of serbia, belgrade, 31 january 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, institutional anniversaries such as the one today are the right time to look back at what has been achieved and to ask ourselves if we have managed to preserve the fundamental values of our society and state. today, we are celebrating 125th anniversary of enactment of the first law on the national bank of serbia, which laid the cornerstone of one of the most important institutions of the serbian state. preparations for the enactment of this law lasted for about a decade, as can be seen from a document dating from as far back as 1873. the leading people of that time understood the need for the young serbian state to pursue the most advanced european standards and visited almost a half of european countries, including germany, switzerland and belgium, to learn more about modern central bank organization and operations and to apply this knowledge in formulating the law on the central bank. at that time, there was no brussels administration and serbia was offered no technical or any other assistance, but the makers of the first law on the national bank of the kingdom of serbia had a clear vision of the country ’ s future and of what needed to be done for serbia to catch up and keep pace with the best european practice. anniversaries are also an occasion to remind ourselves of the fundamental ideas, aims and visions, and to see how close we are to achieving them! for the national bank of serbia, entering the 21st century meant a return to the main ideals and spirit of the law enacted in 1883 – to build an independent and professional institution, which is just and fair in the distribution of money. it is misleading to portray serbia as being on a crossroads between the east and the west, dithering between european integrations or their opposite. europe has both an “ east ” and a “ west ”, a “ north ” and a “ south ” – in this europe, we all are equal but different! in practice, such “ europe ”, the europe woven into the law of 125 years ago, means simply that we must work harder, better and more responsibly ; that we must renounce daily populism, sycophantism and pol