BELGRADE, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Sinisa Mali, who led the Serbian capital since 2013, took his new duty as the new Serbia's finance minister on Tuesday, pledging to continue economic reforms and improving environment for business.
The National Assembly of Serbia have supported the proposal of Prime Minister Ana Brnabic with 154 votes (out of total 250 MP seats) to elect Mali as the new minister instead of Dusan Vujovic, who resigned from "private reasons" last month after 4 years spent at the post.
The new 45-year-old minister became the economic advisor to Aleksandar Vucic, current president back in 2012, while in 2013 he was named as the acting mayor of Belgrade. He was elected mayor in 2014, and spent four years in office.
Just as his mandate as the Mayor of Belgrade expired, Mali took the oath of office at the parliament in front of MPs and government members, and afterwards took over the duty from Brnabic.
Explaining the proposal to elect Mali as the new minister, Brnabic said at the parliament that he managed to reduce the rate of indebtedness of the Serbian capital and helped to decrease unemployment rate to 10.8 percent.
She estimated that Mali managed to stabilize Belgrade's administration and turn the city into the biggest investment destination in Europe and set two biggest challenges for him in the future: to maintain financial discipline and accelerate the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Government released that Brnabic introduced Mali with the organization within the ministry, aims it had set and its future responsibilities, while the newly-appointed finance minister pledged that he will "continue to work on economic reforms and maintain financial discipline".
"I will actively work to accelerate economic growth and advance the economic environment in Serbia," he told Brnabic, stressing his satisfaction to be part of the team.