INTERVIEW
ERIKA TEOMAN-BRENNER, COMMERCIAL COUNSELLOR OF THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY
Supporting Business, Promoting Growth After a very successful 2019, the Austrian-Serbian trade exchange fell by roughly 17% in the first six months of 2020. However, with the support of Advantage Austria, companies from both sides of the aisle are trying their best to preserve contacts and cooperation
E
rika Teoman-Brenner, Commercial Counsellor of the Austrian Embassy, had previously faced challenging moments in her previous postings, such as the financial crisis of 2008/2009 or terrorist bombings in her immediate surroundings. “However,” she insists, “this pandemic is nothing like anything before”. Yet, throughout all these perplexing times, the greatest strength of ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA has been its commitment to connect people and build partnerships with value. That’s also exactly what they’re doing now, by helping companies to navigate their ways through complex issues of maintaining physical contacts and spurring innovation.
24
November
• What kinds of trends have you noticed in the trade exchange between Austria and Serbia during 2020? What are the forecasts like as we head towards 2021? - After a very successful 2019, with bilateral trade achieving an all-time high of 1.5 billion euros, we witnessed a decline this year, due to the pandemic. Based on the latest data – covering the first six months of this year – our bilateral trade has declined by roughly 17%. Basically, all product groups have been impacted, which reflects an overall contraction of demand in Europe. Against this general trend, we witnessed an increase in Austrian deliveries of pharmaceuticals to Serbia, while
during the same period Serbia exported almost twice as much frozen fruit as last year. It is practically impossible to predict developments for the next year, given the uncertainty of the evolution of the pandemic, but we certainly hope that our bilateral trade will grow again. This will not only be a function of the situation in our two countries, but more that of a global economic recovery, given the extent to which our companies are integrated into international production chains. • How did Austrian companies that operate in Serbia cope with the altered circumstances for doing business?
