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BELGRADE, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Serbia made a first step towards a new population policy on Tuesday as an agreement was signed to break the negative demographic trend and try to boost childbirth in the country.
The agreement, signed by and between minister Slavica Djukic Dejanovic and Marko Cadez, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, foresees research conducted by the chamber to gather opinions and suggestions of 5,000 Serbian employees on how to harmonize work and parenting and create more a favorable climate for parents that would, in turn, lead to more childbirths.
A statement from the Serbian government read that research was the initial step towards defining Serbia's new population policy in order to break the negative trend that started back in the mid-20th century when "every year Serbia loses a population equal to a town of around 36,000 people."
Djukic Dejanovic warned that the negative demographic trend and the aging population would result in a weakened labor force and added that the agreement with the chamber was the first formal step towards improving the birth rate with the ultimate aim of harmonizing work and parenting.
"The current legal procedure that has been decently established already, needs to be implemented more intensively in different business entities to make parents more satisfied and efficient in their work process," she concluded.
According to the statement, Cadez said population policy was the foundation of economic progress.
Cadez also warned that the population was more than 40 years old on average and was becoming less capable of working.
"This research is only the beginning of our work together as well as with numerous companies in order to realize and implement existing measures as well as to bring improvements," Cadez explained, reminding that the conflict between work and parenting was not unique to Serbia, but rather a universal problem that existed across Europe.
The statement said the chamber would test the situation in companies and see whether it was possible to implement new measures that would benefit parents because, as Cadez said, "the aim of an employer is to have a satisfied worker." Enditem
