Tamara Vucic: The global economy would grow significantly with a higher participation of women entrepreneurs
The conference began with the anthems of Egypt and Serbia, while a promotional film about Serbia, as well as a film about the achievements of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi were also shown.
In her address, the spouse of the President of Serbia, Tamara Vucic, stated that analyses indicated that, if the numerical ratio of women and men as entrepreneurs were the same, the world GDP could be increased by three to six percent, providing a two and a half to five trillion dollar boost to global economy growth.
"The growing influence and importance of women entrepreneurs in the world is best evidenced by the fact that today they control a third of global wealth", Tamara Vucic said. She drew an analogy with Serbia, where nearly a third of companies today are owned by women - 31 percent.
She pointed out that Serbia recognized female entrepreneurship as an important resource for new jobs, having introduced special financial support programs, accompanied by numerous activities aimed at further empowering women in business as an important lever of economic and social progress.
Speaking about young people, their challenges and opportunities, Tamara Vucic recalled the words of the famous physicist Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them”.
"While I was reading this short piece of wisdom, a thought crystallized in my mind - just as female entrepreneurship should not be a copy of men's, but a new idea specific to women that enriches economic reality, so the goals of sustainable development should not be formulated by experienced people, but by young people instead, whose ability we often underestimate", the spouse of the President said.
She stated that Serbia was committed to creating conditions to increase the birth rate, and on the other hand, to creating conditions that would open up new horizons for young people, taking into account contemporary challenges and the accelerated development of new technologies.
"The Republic of Serbia adopted the 2030 Youth Strategy as well as other strategic documents that recognize the key role of young people, and perceive education as a pillar and accelerator of sustainable development", said the spouse of the President of the Republic of Serbia, Tamara Vucic.
For these reasons, she pointed to the National Dual Education Model as one of the key reforms in the Serbian education sector.
In her statement, Tamara Vucic reminded that the Serbian Government increased the number of scholarships for the best and most talented school and university students, but also introduced "My First Salary" and "Youth Warranties" programs for young people with the aim of further reducing the unemployment rate.
According to her, amid today’s crisis of multilateralism, it is evident that global problems cannot be solved locally, because in the globalized world, problems know no national, religious or cultural boundaries.
Speaking about the relations between Serbia and Egypt, Tamara Vucic stated that, although official records indicate that the first diplomatic contacts between the two countries were established in 1908, the contacts between the two peoples go back further into the past.
“Glagolitic codices from the 11th century and some of the oldest Serbian manuscripts from the 13th century tell us of numerous monks practicing asceticism in Sinai and the Egyptian desert, and that their spiritual influence was present throughout the period of the first Serbian Nemanjic dynasty and centuries later. Even Saint Sava, the medieval founder of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church, stayed twice in the territory of today's Egypt, and that is why I am particularly looking forward to visiting the Saint Catherine's Monastery, where some of those testimonies are kept", the spouse of the President said.
She said that in this way, two seemingly distant countries, especially for medieval times, still had a spiritual contact that meant a lot for the development of Serbian spirituality and which, even without knowing it, we still fostered as part of our heritage today.
The spouse of the president, Tamara Vucic, said that the relations between the two countries continued to develop to this day, through the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, up to today's strategic relations and the particularly important friendly relationship between the presidents of the two countries.
"The historic visit by President of Egypt el-Sisi to the Republic of Serbia in July last year, represents the crown of the successful political dialogue that developed in the previous period, and it provided a key contribution to the further comprehensive development of our bilateral relations", the spouse of the President assessed.
Tamara Vucic visited the exhibition of products of Egyptian and Arab entrepreneurs, which took place as part of the conference.
Photo: Tanjug
