India and Serbia: agreements, trade and cultural links

Background

The Embassy of India in Belgrade records that India and Serbia, as part of former Yugoslavia, have traditionally enjoyed deep friendship as co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. Existing bilateral agreements include a Double Taxation Avoidance Convention, a Trade Agreement granting most-favoured-nation status, a Tourism Agreement, memoranda on agricultural cooperation, science and technology, IT and electronics, archives, and on culture, arts, youth, sports and mass media, a Revised Air Services Agreement, an Agreement on Plant Quarantine and Plant Protection, an Agreement of Defence Cooperation and a Cultural Exchange Programme. The India-Serbia Joint Economic Committee was established under the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation. As per data of the Serbian Statistical Office, bilateral trade in 2024 amounted to USD 405.5 million, compared to USD 383.6 million in 2023. The ITEC Programme was extended to Serbia in 2008 and since then 173 Serbian ITEC trainees have undergone training in India. On the cultural side, Rabindranath Tagore visited Serbia and gave two lectures in the Belgrade University; Serbia has two streets named after Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru with the busts of the two leaders; and Serbia co-sponsored India's resolutions at the United Nations for the International Day of Non-violence and the International Day of Yoga. Commemorative stamps on Swami Vivekananda and Nikola Tesla were jointly released to mark 70 years of diplomatic relations.