France and Serbia
Political relations
France supports the political and economic reforms undertaken by Serbia since the turn of the century and its efforts towards EU accession. The French-Serbian bilateral relationship is partly enshrined in an Agreement on strategic partnership and cooperation signed on 8 April 2011. The President of the French Republic’s visit to Belgrade on 15-16 July 2019 gave fresh impetus to relations between the two countries, in line with the objectives of the French Strategy for the Western Balkans which was adopted in April 2019.
French presence
French community: 1,815 French people (70% of whom were binationals) were registered in July 2019. The number of French tourists visiting Serbia is increasing, with 30,000 visiting in 2017.
Serbian community in France: 48,819 Serbs were registered in France in 2012
Visits
- 2-3 March 2023: visit to France by Ms Tanja Miščević, Serbian Minister of European Integration
- 28-29 November 2022: visit to France by Ms Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia
- 24-26 November 2022: visit to Serbia by Mr Gérard Larcher, President of the French Senate
- 10-12 November 2022: visit to France by Mr Aleksandar Vučić, President of the Republic of Serbia, for the Paris Peace Forum
- 20-22 June 2022: visit to France by Mr Aleksandar Vulin, Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs
- 12-16 June 2022: visit to France by Mr Nebojša Stefanović, Serbian Minister of Defence
- 23-27 May 2022: visit to France by Ms Maja Gojković, Serbian Minister of Culture and Information
- 11 February 2022: visit to France by Ms Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia
- 16-17 December 2021: visit to France by Mr Nikola Selaković, Serbian Foreign Minister
- 16-18 June 2021: visit to France by Ms Maja Gojković, Serbian Minister of Culture and Information
- 1-3 February 2021: visit to France by the Serbian Finance Minister, Mr Siniša Mali, and Serbian Transport Minister, Mr Tomislav Momirović
- 1 February 2021: visit to France by the President of Serbia, Mr Aleksandar Vučić
- 25-26 November 2020: visit to Serbia by the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Mr Franck Riester
- 9 July 2020: visit to France by the President of Serbia, Mr Aleksandar Vučić
- 12-13 December 2019: visit to Serbia by the Minister for the Armed Forces, Ms Florence Parly
- 11-12 November 2019: the President of Serbia, Mr Aleksandar Vučić, took part in the Paris Peace Forum
- 15-16 July 2019: official visit to Serbia by the President of the French Republic, Mr Emmanuel Macron
- 25 February 2019: visit to Serbia by the Minister for European Affairs, Ms Nathalie Loiseau
- 11 November 2018: the President of Serbia, Mr Aleksandar Vučić, took part in the 11 November ceremonies
- 17 July 2018: visit to France by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Aleksandar Vučić
- 12 April 2018: visit to Serbia by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian
- 20 February 2018: visit to France by the Serbian Foreign Minister, Mr Ivica Dačić
- 14/16 September 2016: visit to France by the Prime Minister, Mr Aleksandar Vučić
- November 2014: visit to Serbia by the French Prime Minister, Mr Manuel Valls
For additional information, visit the website of the French Embassy
Ambassadors
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Serbia to France: Ms Nataša Marić
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Serbia: Mr Pierre Cochard
Economic relations
In 2021, trade between France and Serbia reached €1.2 billion, including €639 million in exports and €578 million in imports. Trade has tripled since 2010, the date that the EU-Serbia Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters entered into force. The trade balance, which recorded a slight deficit in 2017, evened out in 2018 and since 2019 has shown a surplus for France, reaching €60.7 million in 2021. While the Covid-19 pandemic reduced our trade by 3.4% between 2019 and 2020, the recovery now looks well underway, with trade growing by 13.9% between 2020 and 2021.
FDI flows in Serbia have been steadily increasing since 2012, climbing from €753 million in 2012 to €3.63 billion in 2021 (up 23% on 2020, where they fell sharply due to the Covid-19 crisis). In the 2010-2021 period, the main investors in Serbia were the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Russia, Luxembourg, China, Switzerland and France; these eight countries accounted for two-thirds of the stock invested since 2010. For France, 2021 saw a marked recovery of FDI flows to Serbia, which had fallen in 2020 following a large increase in 2018 (major concession contracts for Vinci Airports and Suez in Belgrade). The withdrawal of Crédit Agricole in 2021 should be noted, which will be reflected in the 2022 figures. The main French investors are Vinci, Suez, Schneider Electric, Michelin, Crédit Agricole, Tarkett, Savencia, Atos and Lactalis.
Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation
Our cooperation supports a plan to revive the study of French in the education system, develops inter-university exchanges, training programmes for cultural professions and promotes research programmes between laboratories. The French School in Belgrade currently has over 500 students, at all school levels. The mobility of Serbian students and researchers towards France is a key priority for our embassy in Serbia.
For additional information, visit:
Other cooperation
Cooperation between France and Serbia is active in many fields (support for European integration, administrative reform, defence and the environment) and in particular draws on the presence of three French international technical experts, a number which will increase. Security cooperation is strong, with enhanced cooperation in policing, judicial investigations and the fight against trafficking. An inter-ministerial centre for security expertise in south-eastern Europe was set up in Belgrade in 2012.
Updated: June 2022