African Market - Great Potential for Serbian Food Products

The greatest potential for cooperation between businessmen of Serbia and West African countries is agricultural production, the food, confectionery, and pharmaceutical industry, IT, as well as tourism, and the exchange of knowledge and technology in organic farming, it was pointed out at the meeting of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, George Bom Jesus, and Mihailo Vesović, Director of the Sector for Strategic Analysis, Services, and Internationalization of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS).

Sao Tome and Principe is a small island country in the Gulf of Guinea, open to cooperation and free trade within the African Union, and its closest neighbors are Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Cameroon. "We are not a big exporter, but we are working on improving the processing industry using the entire range of raw materials, among which cocoa, coffee, and coconut are the most represented", said Jesus, assessing that Serbia has competitive food products, very interesting for the African market.

Small areas of quality land yet insufficient for larger cultivation and production, a limited number of workers, and other challenges specific to island states present an opportunity for cooperation in the field of production technologies, digitalization, and implementation of modern innovative solutions directed to increase of productivity.

The most important export products of this African country are cocoa and palm oil, and the most important export markets are Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Imports are dominated by rice, wine, and energy products, which arrive in the Sao Tome and Principe market mainly from the EU and Angola. Great potential for cooperation between Serbia and African countries lies in tourism and efforts should be made to create a joint tourist offer.