In order to help Serbia build broad consensus on policy measures needed to strengthen growth and social cohesion, the World Bank decided to organize a series of round tables to foster dialogue on major policy issues in the country. The Bank aims at bringing together all relevant stakeholders from government, international donors, to academia, unions, the business community and civil society. Discussions at the round tables provide the opportunity for a wide spectrum of participants to exchange ideas on the second-generation reforms that will help the Government formulate a sustainable policy framework over the medium-term.
The format for the discussions involves one general and four sector specific round table conferences. The Bank partners with the Center for Liberal Democratic Studies (CDLS) in organizing them. CLDS is a Belgrade non-profit, non-governmental public policy research organization and is home to some of Serbia’s leading scholars in economics, law and political science.
The first conference “Reforms in Serbia: Achievements and Challenges” took place at the Sava Center in Belgrade, on September 20th, 2008. It gathered over sixty leading Serbian academics, the Serbian Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Regional Development, Vice President and Director of the World Bank and many representatives of the international donor community. A paper prepared by CLDS on eight years of transition in Serbia was a starting point for lively discussion. To learn more about the event click here.
The second conference addressed the reforms of the Serbian pension system. The conference was organized on November 19, 2008, by the Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies. Gordana Matkovic, former Minister of Labor, opened the conference together with Simon Gray, the World Bank Country Manager, emphasizing the importance of pension reform issues in Serbia. She was followed by a presentation on potential reform options presented by Bosko Mijatovic jointly with Gordana Matkovic. Radina Todovic, State Secretary in the Ministry of Labor presented her views on the evolution of the pension system in Serbia. And Radovan Jelasic, the Central Bank Governor, presented his views on reform options for Serbia. In the second session, Serbian pension reform was placed in an international context by Anita Schwarz, lead economist from the World Bank, while reform examples from two similar countries which faced similar problems were presented by Ljiljana Marusic of Croatia and Marek Lendacky of Slovak Republic. Following the presentations, the participants at this well-attended workshop took part in an active discussion about what the problems and solutions for the Serbian pension system should be.
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