Aleksandr Zharov, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, spoke at the 21st Session of the Intergovernmental Russian-Serbian Committee for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. The agenda of the meeting, covering cooperation in the fields of energy, transport, infrastructure, information technology, healthcare, and education, included a separate area: “Cooperation in the field of creative industries”. The co-chairs of the Committee are Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, and Nenad Popović, a minister in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, overseeing international economic cooperation and the public position of the church in Serbia and abroad.
The proposal for systematic co-production of movies, series, and TV shows received fundamental support from the Serbian government and was positively received within the framework of the bilateral dialogue.
In his speech, Aleksandr Zharov emphasized that Russian cinema is already well represented in Serbia (Serf (Kholop) Going Vertical (Dvizhenie vverkh) Streltsov, The Pilot. A Battle for Survival (Lyotchik) and more than 30 other projects), but the next step should be regular joint content production rather than episodic distribution. The head of Gazprom-Media Holding proposed four practical areas: co-creation of series, movies, and digital formats; exchange programs for students and specialists; research and AI projects for content adaptation; and expanded film distribution on platforms and in cinemas of both countries. The proposal was conveyed not only to the heads of relevant ministries, but also to the broader business community, and within the framework of the Russia-Serbia Business Forum, which gathered about 200 representatives of business, government bodies, and social structures.
As noted by Aleksandr Zharov, more detailed discussions of joint projects are planned in the coming months at the Russia-Serbia Cultural Forum in Veliky Novgorod and the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.