At the press conference held on 15th December 2004, Provincial Secretary of Economy, Jovan Vujičić, announced that, Protocol on Cooperation between AP Vojvodina and Central Province Markazi in Iran had been signed during a visit to Iran at the session of Mixed Commission on Business, Economic and Technical Cooperation of SCG and Iran.

This protocol creates institutional conditions for reinforcing the cooperation between the two regions in fields such as: business, commerce, agriculture, developing small and medium-sized enterprises, culture, education, sports, ecology, cooperation of administrations, organizing fairs.
Vujičić especially stressed the potential for cooperation in the field of construction industry. Markazi plans to set up 25 new factories and eight residential settlements with 2.5 thousand apartment units. Our construction companies could be engaged in the implementation of these plans.
Markazi is one of 28 provinces in Iran with the population of 1.3 million. Moreover, Iran has been a very significant partner of our country in foreign trade. By the 1990s, exchange worth approximately 100 million dollars had been realized. It decreased significantly after the sanctions had been imposed on our country, but revived again in 1998. However, our export was rather low and we chiefly imported oil. In 2003 and first nine months of 2004, Vojvodina recorded a positive balance in trade with Iran by way of exporting acetic acid, piston engine parts and corn.
At the press conference, Jovan Vujičić put a public question to the Government of Serbia concerning the 33 million EUR Italian Government earmarked for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia.