Last year's foreign trade exchange between Serbia and Israel amounted to about USD 35 million, a situation which could be significantly improved, Secretary of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Board for International Economic Relations Olivera Kiro said Thursday.

At the first gathering of Serbian and Israeli entrepreneurs in Belgrade, Kiro said she expected an agreement on avoidance of double taxation between Serbia and Israel would be concluded soon, which would greatly facilitate the cooperation between the two countries.

She said that last year's total foreign trade between Serbia and Israel amounted to about USD 15 million in exports and USD 20 million in imports. According to her, the Israeli investments in Serbia officially amount to about USD 50 million, although in practice it is lot more than that.

Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Israel in Belgrade Eyal Naor said that Israel was a small country, but very good at innovation, adding that it was the second country in the world by the number of highly educated people in relation to population.

Deputy Director of the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA) Bojan Jankovic said that the agency planned to organize a visit of Serbian companies to Israel for October to offer cooperation with that country's companies in three sectors - information technology, furniture manufacture and food industry.

He said that Israel annually imports about USD 40 billion worth of goods, mostly food, agricultural products and energy, and Serbia was in the position to offer all of them.