The press conference on the promotion of COMPASS project results took place on, February 20, 2025. It showcased key findings from the research conducted as part of the COMPASS project, funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia under the “PRIZMA” program (No. 7294).

During the presentation, members of the project team shared insights from the Survey on Foreign Policy Attitudes of Citizens of the Republic of Serbia. The survey provided a comprehensive overview of public perceptions regarding Serbia’s foreign relations, with a particular focus on its ties with the European Union and China.

Additionally, the event featured the promotion of the COMPASS Project Yearbook, which includes an analysis of Serbia’s foreign policy environment in 2024 and expert predictions on major international trends for 2025. The Yearbook offers valuable perspectives for policymakers, academics, and the broader public interested in Serbia’s evolving diplomatic landscape.

The presentation attracted researchers, diplomats, policymakers, and members of the public, all eager to engage in discussions on Serbia’s global partnerships and future strategic directions. The COMPASS outputs were presented by Dr. Ivona Ladjevac, Project PI, and Dr. Sanja Filipović, Dr. Aleksandar Mitić and Dr. Nenad Stekić, members of the project team.

The whole press conference is available at the link: https://mc.rs/dogadjaji/-doprinos-modernim-partnerstvima-procene-odnosa-republike-srbije-sa-eu-i-sa-kinom-/8035

The COMPASS Annual Yearbook titled “Year in Rewind – Serbia’s COMPASS for 2024” is a publication offering a comprehensive assessment of the evolving dynamics in Serbia’s relations with both the EU and China. The Yearbook provides in-depth analysis and insights into the political, economic, and security dimensions of these partnerships, reflecting the ongoing changes and emerging trends in Serbia’s foreign policy.

The Yearbook presents key insights gathered from the research conducted throughout the first project implementation year, and covers the period from January to December of 2024. Additionally, it spotlights key upcoming events and trends for 2025.

The Yearbook is available at the following link:
https://serbiacompass.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CompassAnnualYearbook_250207_Print.pdf

The results of The COMPASS Survey: Attitudes on Serbia’s Foreign Policy – 2024, the first of two planned public opinion surveys, have been published. The survey examines public perceptions of Serbia’s foreign policy direction, its relationships with major partners such as the EU, the US, Russia, and China, attitudes toward neighboring countries, and views on key international political leaders.

The main findings and key takeaways will be presented at an upcoming public event.

The full report is available at the following link:
https://serbiacompass.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CompassAnketa_250205.pdf

Research results of the COMPASS project team members are published within the two volume conference proceedings of the „The Dialogues on China – Harvesting the winds of change: China and the global actors”. The second volume includes the keynote speech and five papers presented at the special dedicated COMPASS panel of the second day of the conference:

• “Serbian development path of FDIs – Navigating between the EU and China” by Katarina Zakić (keynote speech)
• “Serbia and China: From strategic partnership towards community with shared future” by Ivona Lađevac
• “The COMPASS Dataset: A new approach to indexing Serbia’s policy trends” by Nenad Stekić
• “Serbia between China and the EU: Analysis of foreign trade commodities exchange” by Sanja Filipović
• “Serbia’s security relations with the EU and China in the evolving international environment” by Branislav Đorđević and Pavle Nedić
• “A decade of Serbia’s EU accession process: Implications for Sino-Serbian political relations” by Aleksandar Mitić

The articles are available here.

As one of the COMPASS project outputs, the conference proceedings from the Fourth international scientific conference held in the “Dialogues on China” format, under the title “Harvesting the Winds of Change: China and the Global Actors” in Belgrade on October 10-11, were published in two volumes.

The conference proceedings include 53 articles in total and were edited by project team members Aleksandar Mitić and Katarina Zakić. The second day of the conference was titled COMPASS Day and included presentations of the project results and research articles by all project team members., which are available to read in the second volume.

“The Dialogues on China – Harvesting the winds of change: China and the global actors” conference proceedings are available at the following links: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Research Fellow of the Institute of International Politics and Economics and COMPASS project team member, dr Aleksandar Mitić, spoke at the international symposium “China-Europe Cooperation in the Era of Great Transformation” in Budapest, organized by the Eurasia Center of the John Von Neumann University from Budapest and the Fudan University from Shanghai.

During his presentation which focused on Serbia-China relations, he presented main theoretical background of the COMPASS project, research activities and results.

Regular bi-monthly COMPASS Project team meeting was held on 14 November 2024.

At the meeting the team summarized the activities and results of the first year of project implementation. Additionally, project team members talked about future outputs, including the Yearbook and the corresponding event.

The COMPASS project team has published the report on the findings of the COMPASS Delphi panels. The team conducted two expert panels with 15 experts each, across three rounds, on the topics of politics, security, and economics in relation to Serbian relations with the EU and China.

The conclusions and summary of the panels can be found in the report available at the link:
https://serbiacompass.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Delphi-Report_final.pdf

The Fourth international scientific conference in the “Dialogues on China” format was organized on October 10-11, 2024, by the Institute of International Politics and Economics (IIPE) and the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IES CASS). Held under the title “Harvesting the Winds of Change: China and the Global Actors”, was opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Marko Đurić and included more than 80 participants from 27 countries over 11 panels.

The second day of the conference was titled COMPASS day and started with a welcome speech and special presentation of the project COMPASS by Principal Investigator Dr. Ivona Lađevac. Dr. Katarina Zakić, a COMPASS team member, gave a keynote speech on the COMPASS day the topic “Serbian development path of FDIs – Navigating between the EU and China”.

Additionally, a special panel titled “Innovation practices in foreign policy research – COMPASS Project” was devoted to the results of the project and saw five presentations by project team members who presented their current research within the COMPASS framework. Ivona Lađevac spoke on the topic “Serbia and China: From strategic partnership towards community with shared future”, Nenad Stekić’s subject was “The COMPASS Dataset: A new approach to indexing Serbia’s policy trends”, Branislav Đorđević and Pavle Nedić presented their research on “Serbia’s security relations with the EU and China in the evolving international environment”, Sanja Filipović spoke on the subject of “Serbia between China and the EU: Analysis of foreign trade commodities exchange”, and Aleksandar Mitić presented “A decade of Serbia’s EU accession process: Implications for Sino-Serbian political relations”.   

A delegation of the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, led by Mr. Yang Xiaobo, visited the Institute of International Politics and Economics.

Researchers from the Regional Centre “Belt and Road” participated in the meeting. Dr. Katarina Zakić, the head of the Centre, introduced the members of the delegation to the history and work of the Institute of International Politics and Economics. Institute researchers and members of the delegation discussed contemporary relations between the Republic of Serbia and the People’s Republic of China, focusing particularly on the outcomes of the COMPASS project. They presented the work of the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia and highlighted how the COMPASS project team successfully secured the opportunity to pursue their project amidst significant competition from other proposals in the social and humanities fields.