As a part of the project of the bilateral cooperation between Serbia and China, called “Soybean for Human Consumption”, on March 23, the Chinese delegation were given a tour of the Sojaprotein factory and the SP Laboratory which operate within the Victoria Group. The project was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Science of the Republic of China in order to establish cooperation and exchange experiences in applying soybean to the food industry.

The conference on the “Trends and strategies in the supply of GMO-free proteins and food products in Europe” was held in Sarajevo on March 17 and 18, 2016. It was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina in association with the German Organization for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), in the scope of the “High-quality, GMO-free soya from the Danube region” project.

The 23rd Kopaonik Business Forum was held on Kopaonik Mountain from March 8 to 10. It gathered more than 800 businessmen and women from the country and the region, representatives of the Government of Serbia, economic analysts, and international experts. This year’s gathering, dubbed “Catching up and convergence with leading trends: How to fix up the main fractures of the system”, featured 20 panels on the current economic topics.

At the 38th Tourism Fair, held in Belgrade between February 18 and 21, Bečej municipality presented its tourist offers at the exhibit stand of Destination Management Company Danube (DMC Danube). Local tourist and catering offers, gastronomy, culture, tradition, history, and sport were presented, and the emphasis was on a proper and healthy diet and its presence at the catering facilities in Bečej municipality, all under the motto “Feel the life by the river canal banks”.

The FRA ARENA 2016 6th International Conference of FMCG, Retail and Agribusiness Industry was held in Vienna on February 18 – 19, organized by the Infoarena Group with the support of EBRD. This year’s topic “From Global Challenges to Grand Opportunities” gathered more than 80 experts and entrepreneurs from the region, including the representatives of international institutions and organizations.

According to the consolidated business results in the period from September 2014 to August 2015, the so-called agricultural year, Victoria Group achieved more than EUR 380 million in sales revenue, a 15% increase compared to the previous agricultural year. An increase was also achieved both in the sales on domestic and foreign markets, while export generated over 40% of sales revenue.

After the promotion of the product portfolio at the World Fair EXPO 2015 in Milan, Sojaprotein, in cooperation with the Tourist Organization Bečej, continued its “Soya Gastro Show” activities within the project of presenting the local gastro-tourist offer.

On October 16 and 17 in Subotica, the Fifth Agricultural Forum “Food for Europe” gathered a large number of local agriculture representatives from the private and public sector. The central theme was the question of how to develop agriculture in the pre-accession period. The forum organizers, the Economics Institute and the Serbian Association of Agricultural Economists, pointed out that the agribusiness has been the largest unexploited potential for decades, although it is a strategic area of economic sovereignty of our country.

Victoria Group achieved a revenue of EUR 191.4 million in the first half of 2015, a 31.5% increase compared to the same period last year. Sales revenue saw an identical increase and exports alone increased by 26%, amounting to more than EUR 78 million. In this way, the company has further strengthened its position as the leading net exporter in the food-processing sector in Serbia. Good business results have also been confirmed by EBITDA, which is nearly 100% higher compared with the period January-June 2014.

The Regional Chamber of Commerce Novi Sad celebrated its 40 year anniversary on June 9. On that occasion, the June Awards Ceremony was held for the most successful companies, institutions and individuals, who have achieved a significant success and have made an outstanding contribution to the development of the regional economy, as well as local economy in its entirety.