Dubravka Đedović Negre to become Serbia’s energy, mining minister

Dubravka Đedović Negre, who was proposed to become the minister of mining and energy of Serbia, said she is honored to be appointed for the role at a time of historic global changes in the energy sector.

Dubravka Đedović Negre should replace Zorana Mihajlović as minister of mining and energy of Serbia in Prime Minister Ana Brnabić’s next cabinet. She has more than 16 years of experience in the international banking sector. Đedović Negre is currently a member of the Executive Board of NLB Komercijalna banka, responsible for corporate and investment banking.

Dubravka Đedović Negre is among the names that Prime Minister Ana Brnabić’s put on the list of candidates for ministerial seats in her new cabinet. The Main Board of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party adopted the proposition. Its meeting was held today in Belgrade.

“Our country is also exposed to historic global problems in the energy sector. I believe I will contribute to their mitigation and elimination with my knowledge and experience so that we create the much needed safety and stability for our citizens,” Đedović told Tanjug news agency.

She obtained master’s degree in finance and management from SDA Bocconi University in Milan and the Anderson School of Management at the University of California in Los Angeles

She thanked President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Brnabić for their confidence in her. “It will be my honor for us to jointly lead Serbia forward and for me to serve my people,” Đedović said.

She graduated in banking and finance from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade and obtained her master’s degree in finance and management from SDA Bocconi University in Milan and the Anderson School of Management at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), according to the website of NLB Komercijalna banka. She is also a visiting master studies lecturer at University College London.

Đedović has rich sixteen-year international experience in financing large corporations, investments and projects in transport, energy, telecommunications, innovation, health and other industries, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises as the pillar of the national economy, the bank said in her biography.

Director for Western Balkans for five years at EIB

She joined the Executive Board of NLB Komercijalna banka in December 2021, after being the head of the Regional Office of the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the Western Balkans since 2016.

Before her tenure in EIB in Belgrade, Đedović Negre was the manager for Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia at the bank’s headquarters in Luxembourg, but also in charge of public-private partnership projects and project financing, including Ireland, France, the United Kingdom and Benelux countries, her biography reads.

At the time, she financed projects in renewable energy, transport and healthcare sectors in the Netherlands, UK and Ireland.

War reporter in Afghanistan

Đedović Negre contracted the first public-private partnership project in Croatia, for which the Project Finance magazine awarded her for the European transaction of the year in the airline industry in 2013, the bank added.

Before starting her career in banking, she worked in the media and communications sector. Dubravka Đedović Negre was awarded in 2001 by the United States National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences for reporting on the Afghanistan war.

Istinomer wrote that she worked as a TV producer for CNN International, covering conflicts.

The report was updated on October 24 with the minister-designate’s statement.