Zenit Spedition
Destination Serbia

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Serbia - brief overview about the Zenit destination Serbia.

Geopraphy

Serbia is at the crossroads between Central-, Southern- and Eastern Europe, between the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain.
The province of Vojvodina, occupying the northern third of the country, is located entirely within the Central European Pannonian Plain. The easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The northeastern border of the country is determined by the Carpathian Mountain range, which run through the whole of Central Europe. The Southern Carpathians meet the Balkan Mountains, following the course of the Velika Morava, a 500 km long (partially navigable) river. The Midžor peak is the highest point in eastern Serbia at 2156 m. In the southeast, the Balkan Mountains meet the Rhodope Mountains. The Šar Mountains of Kosovo form the border with Albania, with one of the highest peaks in the region, Djeravica (2656 m). Dinaric Alps of Serbia follow the flow of the Drina river (at 350 km navigable for smaller vessels only) overlooking the Dinaric peaks on the opposite shore in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Although landlocked, there are around 2000 km of navigable rivers and canals, the largest of which are: the Danube, Sava, Tisa, joined by the Timi? River and Begej, all of which connect Serbia with Northern and Western Europe (through the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal – North Sea route), to Eastern Europe (via the Tisa, Timi?, Begej and Danube Black Sea routes) and to Southern Europe (via the Sava river). The two largest Serbian cities – Belgrade and Novi Sad, as well as Smederevo – are major regional Danubian harbours.
Over a quarter of Serbia (27%) is covered by forest. In 2010, as projected, the national parks will take up 10% of the country's entire territory.

Demographics

Serbs form the largest ethnic group, with significant minorities consisting of Hungarians, Bosniaks, Albanians, Roma, Croats, Czechs and Slovaks, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Germans, and Chinese. According to the UN assessments, 450,000 to 500,000 Roma live in Serbia, most of whom have been exiled from Kosovo. The German minority in Vojvodina was more numerous in the past (336,430 in 1900, or 23.5% of the population). The northern province of Vojvodina is ethnically and religiously diverse.
The census was not conducted in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo, which is under administration by the United Nations. According to the EU estimates however, the overall population is estimated at 2,100,000 inhabitants, of whom 92% are Albanians, 6% Serbs and others 2%.There are also around 200,000 Serbian and other refugees,who are expelled from Kosovo. Refugees and IDPs in Serbia form between 7% and 7.5% of its population – about half a million refugees sought refuge in the country following the series of Yugoslav wars (from Croatia mainly, to an extent Bosnia and Herzegovina too and the IDPs from Kosovo, which are the most numerous at over 200,000) Serbia has the largest refugee population in Europe. On the other hand, it is estimated that 500,000 people have left Serbia during the '90s alone. Significant amount of these people were college graduates. Serbia has the fourth oldest overall population on the planet, mostly due to heavy migration and low level of fertility, which is expected to continue in long terms. In addition, Serbia has among the highest negative growth population rates in the world, ranking 227th out of 233 countries overall.

Economy

With a GDP PPP for 2008 estimated at $79.662 billion ($10,792 per capita PPP), the Republic of Serbia is an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank. FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in 2006 was $5.85 billion or €4.5 billion. FDI for 2007 reached $4.2 Billion while real GDP per capita figures are estimated to have reached $6,781 (April 2009). The GDP growth rate showed increase by 6.3% (2005), 5.8% (2006),[84] reaching 7.5% in 2007 and 8.7% in 2008 as the fastest growing economy in the region. According to Eurostat data, Serbian PPS GDP per capita stood at 37 per cent of the EU average in 2008.
At the beginning of economic transition in 1989, the politics of the Yugoslav government handprints gets favorable economic outlook. Also, the economic sanctions of 1992 to 1995, as well as the industry damage suffered during the Kosovo War devastating economic climate within Serbia. The loss of former Yugoslav and Comecon markets had devastating effects on the exporters.
After the people ousted the former Federal Yugoslav President Miloševi? in October 2000, the country experienced faster economic growth, and has been preparing for membership in the European Union, its most important trading partner.
The recovery of the economy still faces many problems, among which unemployment (14%) high export/import trade deficit and considerable national debt are most prominent. The country expects some major economic impulses and high growth rates in the next years. Given its recent high economic growth rates, which averaged 6.6% in the last three years, foreign analysts have sometimes labeled Serbia as the “Balkan Tiger”.

Apart from its free-trade agreement with the EU as its associate member, Serbia is the only European country outside the former Soviet Union to have free trade agreements with the Russian Federation and, more recently, Belarus.[89] Apart from its favorable economic agreements with both the East and West, such steps could be soon undertaken with Turkey and Iran. By doing this Serbia hopes to set up an export-oriented economy.
Blue-chip corporations investing in Serbia include: US Steel, Philip Morris, Microsoft, FIAT, Coca-Cola, Lafarge, Siemens, Carlsberg and others. In the energy, Russian giants Lukoil and Gazprom have invested heavily. The banking sector has attracted investments from Banca Intesa (Italy), Credit Agricole and Societe Generale (France), HVB Bank (Germany), Erste Bank (Austria), Eurobank EFG and Piraeus Bank (Greece), and others. U.S. based Citibank, opened a representative office in Belgrade in December 2006. In the trade sector, biggest foreign investors are France's Intermarche, German Metro Cash & Carry, Greek Veropoulos, and Slovenian Mercator.
Serbia grows about one-third of the world's raspberries and is the leading frozen fruit exporter.

Climate

The Serbian climate varies between a continental climate in the north, with cold winters, and hot, humid summers with well distributed rainfall patterns, and a more Adriatic climate in the south with hot, dry summers and autumns and relatively cold winters with heavy inland snowfall. Differences in elevation, proximity to the Adriatic Sea and large river basins, as well as exposure to the winds account for climate differences. Vojvodina possesses typical continental climate, with air masses from northern and western Europe which shape its climatic profile. South and South-west Serbia is subject to Mediterranean influences. However, the Dinaric Alps and other mountain ranges contribute to the cooling down of most of the warm air masses. Winters are quite harsh in Sandžak because of the mountains which encircle the plateau.
Mediterranean microregions exist throughout southern Serbia, in Zlatibor and the P?inja District around valley and river P?inja .
The average annual air temperature for the period 1961–90 for the area with an altitude of up to 300 m is 10.9 °C. The areas with an altitude of 300 m to 500 m have an average annual temperature of around 10.0 °C, and over 1000 m of altitude around 6.0 °C. The lowest recorded temperature in Serbia was –39.5 °C (-39 °F, January 13 1985, Karajuki?a Bunari in Pešter), and the highest was 44.9 °C (113 °F, July 24 2007, Smederevska Palanka). In the summer of 2007, temperatures were as high as 46 °C in Serbia (July 23, 114.8 °F).

Infrastructure

Serbia owns one of the world's oldest airline carriers, Jat Airways, founded in 1927. There are 3 international airports in Serbia: Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Niš Constantine the Great Airport and Vršac international airport as well as one in Kosovo, Pristina International Airport .
Historians have labeled the entire Serbia, and especially the valley of the Morava, as "the crossroads between East and West", which is one of the primary reasons for its turbulent history. The Morava valley route, which avoids mountainous regions, is by far the easiest way of traveling overland from continental Europe to Greece and Asia Minor. Modern Serbia was the first among its neighbors to buy railroads- in 1858 the first train arrived to Vrsac, then Austria-Hungary[103] (by 1882 route to Belgrade and Niš was completed). Serbian Railways handles the entire railway links in Serbia.

European routes E65, E70, E75 and E80, as well as the E662, E761, E762, E763, E771, and E851 pass through the country. The E70 westwards from Belgrade and most of the E75 are modern highways of motorway / autobahn standard or close to that. As of 2005, Serbia has 1,481,498 registered cars, 16,042 motorcycles, 9,626 buses, 116,440 trucks, 28,222 special transport vehicles, 126,816 tractors, and 101,465 trailers.
The Danube River, central Europe's connection to the Black Sea, flows through Serbia. Through Danube-Rhine-Mein canal the North Sea is also accessible. Tisza river offers a connection with Eastern Europe while the Sava river connects her to western former Yugoslav republics near the Adriatic Sea.

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More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbia
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