MEPS 2025 – Challenges and Opportunities in the Current Geopolitical and Trade Reality
The Second Annual Conference “International Economic Position of Serbia – MEPS 2025: Challenges and Opportunities in the Current Geopolitical and Trade Reality” was held on 3 November 2025 at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia in Belgrade. It brought together representatives of the business community, domestic and international institutions, academia and the banking sector.
Serbia has free trade agreements with the European Union, the CEFTA and EFTA countries, the Eurasian Economic Union, Turkey, the United Kingdom, China, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which give domestic companies access to markets of more than two billion consumers. The conference examined how these opportunities can be turned into export growth, new jobs and new business partnerships.
Opening presentations
After a welcome address by a representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, Dr Jelena Vasić (CCIS) spoke about Serbia’s trade position in the international environment, and Dr Filip Ž. Bugarčić (Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac) presented the analysis “Where we are and where we are heading”.
Panels
The panel on a macroeconomic perspective on internationalisation, moderated by Bojan Stanić (CCIS), featured Oliver Šarov (European Commission), Prof. Nenad Stanišić (Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac) and Mirjana Kovačević, MSc (CCIS / Business Academy).
The panel on internationalisation from the business community’s perspective was moderated by Dr Jelena Vasić, with Darko Đorić (MIND), Miloš Zečević (Erste Bank), Strahinja Puškarević (Neoplanta) and Predrag Bojović (Ideologija) taking part.
World Café
In the interactive part of the programme, participants gathered at thematic tables – Europe, Asia and Australia, Africa, and North and South America – to discuss how to make the most of export opportunities in these markets. Each group then presented its conclusions.
Conclusions
The conference closed with conclusions and recommendations for 2026, presented by Bojan Stanić, Dr Jelena Vasić and Dr Filip Ž. Bugarčić. The conference was held with the support of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).