A procession of great civilisations

Around the 6th Century AD Slavic people started to gather in large numbers on the fringe of Byzantium in what is now Serbia. The land of modern Serbia has been ruled by Greeks, Romans, Huns, Ostrogoths, Franks, Bulgarians, Hungarians and Ottomans making for a rich historic tapestry. After world war II Josip Broz Tito became the leader of a socialist Yugoslavia (of which Serbia was at the heart) and transformed a rural backwater into an industrial country. Under Sloban Milosovic the country broke up after many independence wars but today peace has returned and relations are improving.

From sanctions to liberalisation

In the late 1980s Serbia changed from a planed economy to a free market. Its progress however was severely hampered by the sanctions imposed by the UN between 1992 and 1995 as well as NATO bombing. Since 2000 however the economy has been liberalised and economic growth has been high. Today services account for about 63% of Serbia's economy and many big multinationals such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Fiat, Gazprom, Siemens and US Steel have operations in Serbia.