This article covers the cooperation between India and Serbia outside trade: training for Serbian officials under India's ITEC programme, defence, security, science and technology, information technology, agriculture, archives, film and media. The source is the MEA bilateral brief dated June 2026.

Training and capacity building

According to the MEA brief of June 2026, India's ITEC Programme was extended to Serbia in 2008, and since then 170 Serbian ITEC trainees have been trained in India. Courses have covered IT, telecommunications, WTO, English language, SMEs, management, finance, textiles, rural development, environment and yoga.

Serbia has also used India's Training of Diplomats under PCFD, and so far 13 Serbian diplomats have undertaken this training. Serbian military officers attend UN Peacekeeping training courses in India.

Priority sectors identified

The brief records the sectors that the two sides have identified for cooperation at different meetings:

  • January 2017, during Mr. Vucic's visit as then Prime Minister: food production, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, defence industry, health, tourism and IT.
  • September 2018, during the Vice President's visit: agriculture, food processing, defence manufacturing, S&T, IT, infrastructure, tourism and pharmaceuticals.
  • November 2019, during External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar's visit: cooperation in international forums, regular exchange of high-level visits, and economic and trade areas such as IT, agriculture, tourism, film production, pharmaceuticals and the defence industry.
  • June 2023, during President Murmu's State Visit, when President Vučić was joined in the talks by eight Ministers (Defence; Agriculture; Culture; Health; Mining & Energy; Construction, Transport & Infrastructure; Trade; and Tourism & Youth): defence and military-tech cooperation, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, industrial cooperation, information technology, AI and cultural cooperation including film production and cinematography. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić showed keen interest in digitalization and cyber security.

Defence

The Agreement of Defence Cooperation between India and Serbia was signed in November 2019, during External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar's visit to Serbia. Earlier, in April 2018, Raksha Mantri Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman met Serbia's Defence Minister Mr. Aleksandar Vulin on the sidelines of the VII Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS 2018) to discuss the prospects of bilateral defence cooperation.

A 3-member Serbian Defence delegation visited the Aero-India show 2023, held in Bangalore from 13-17 February 2023. Defence was also among the areas reviewed at the 9th Foreign Office Consultations in March 2026.

Security and law enforcement

Serbian Interior Minister Mr. Aleksandar Vulin visited New Delhi from 18-21 October 2022 and led the Serbian delegation to the 90th session of the INTERPOL General Assembly, organised by the CBI in New Delhi.

Science, technology and IT

An MoU on Cooperation in Science and Technology was signed in 2004. An MoU on Cooperation in the field of IT & Electronics was signed in October 2016, during the visit of Dr. Jitendra Singh, MOS (PMO), to Serbia.

Agriculture and plant protection

An MoU on Agricultural Cooperation exists and, according to the brief, is in the process of renewal. An Agreement on Cooperation in Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine was signed during the Vice President's visit to Serbia in September 2018; the brief's list of agreements records it as the Agreement on Plant Quarantine and Plant Protection (2018).

Archives

An MoU on Archives was signed in October 2017.

Film and media

Film production is one of the cooperation areas the two sides have named. Indian films shot in Serbia include Uri (2018), Cheka Chvivantha vaanam by Mani Ratnam (2018), Baaghi 3 (2019) and Thug Life (2025), and web series include Apaharan 2 (2021), Qubool hai (2021) and Ranneeti: Balakot & beyond (2022). The first India-Serbia joint production, "Dev Bhoomi" by the Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic, was shot in Uttarakhand with an Indian cast.

In October 2022, the Ambassador of India signed an MoU on behalf of Prasar Bharati with PINK TV Serbia for cooperation between the two media organisations.

Development assistance

In this area, the cooperation it does describe is the training of Serbian officials, diplomats and military officers set out above.