Swedish companies looking for partners for eco-village project in Serbia

Serbia has a great potential for the development of green technologies, alternative energy sources and sustainable production, the Swedish experts from the Swedish Cleantech platform concluded after their visit to Zrenjanin on Wednesday, October 25, 2017. The platform brings together Swedish companies dealing in development, commercialization and export of Swedish green technology, the Swedish embassy said.

– We are already cooperating with Zrenjanin and that is why we are looking for partners here today. The concept of an eco-village offers high-tech solutions for development of rural areas. The aim is not just to build a system, but to also educate village residents. The intention is for villages to have potable water, a waste water system and to use renewable energy sources – said Per-Olof Hallberg, International Relations Manager at the Swedish company Gastrike Atervinnare.

He said that they were looking for a municipality in which to develop a pilot-project of an eco-village, which entails involvement by the residents in solving issues together.

– If the pilot-project succeeds, we intent to implement this in other villages as well – he said.

Mladen Prodanovic, coordinator for commerce and promotion at the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade, said that the embassy enabled the connection of Swedish and Serbian companies in the field of sustainable production, both through projects financed the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (SIDA) and through connecting for the purpose of development of green technologies.

Anders Sundvall, the president of the Association of Swedish Environmental Technology Industries (ASSET), which brings together around 1,500 Swedish companies, emphasized that his country had the platform called Smart City Sweden.

– We are maybe not the best in business, but we have a culture of engineering in Sweden. Our role is to work on connecting in the field of environmental protection, and we are especially oriented towards solving the issue of waste waters, which is precisely Zrenjanin`s problem – he said and added that that was the reason he saw a lot of potential for cooperation.

Zrenjanin was also visited by Ahmet Bahceci, representative of the composting company Vermigron, who presented the possibilities of cooperation in the field of composting with Serbia and the region and emphasized the advantages and the importance of organic composting.

Ambasada Kraljevine Švedske Beograd

SIDA Stockholm

Grad Zrenjanin

Swedish Cleantech

Association of Swedish Environmental Technology Industries ASSET

Gastrike Atervinnare

Vermigron

Swedish International Development Corporation Agency SIDA

green technologies

sustainable production

eco villages

Per Olof Hallberg

Mladen Prodanovic

Anders Sundvall

Smart City Sweden

Ahmet Bahceci

compost

composting

ecology

ecological villages

renewable energy sources

RES