Dubravka Đedović

Dubravka Đedović Handanović (; formerly Dubravka Nègre; born 6 November 1978) is a Serbian banker and politician serving as minister of mining and energy since 2022.

Born in Belgrade, she graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Belgrade, and earned her master's degree from the Bocconi University and UCLA Anderson School of Management. Initially working for CNN International, she later worked as a financer before being appointed manager of operations at the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 2004. She worked at EIB until 2012, only to return as the director of the Regional Representative Office for Western Balkans in 2016. She left EIB in 2021, after which she served as a member of the executive board of NLB Komercijalna banka from December 2021 to October 2022.

Early life Dubravka Đedović was born on 6 November 1978 in Belgrade, Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. She finished her primary education at a school at Braće Jerković, in Belgrade. Đedović has published several scientific papers regarding public-private partnerships and is a lecturer at the University College London.

Career She began her career as a television producer for CNN International. As the manager, she contracted projects in fields of education, energy, and telecommunications. while the EIB invested mostly in small and medium enterprises and the transportation sector in Serbia. In December 2021, she became a member of the executive board of NLB Komercijalna banka.

Minister of Mining and Energy Initially, it was speculated that Đedović would be appointed minister for public investments, but on 23 October 2022 it was announced that she would instead serve as the minister of mining and energy in the third cabinet of Ana Brnabić. She was sworn in on 26 October, succeeding Zorana Mihajlović. Vreme, a weekly news magazine, stated that "she would symbolize the pro-Western orientation at least of her department".

During her first week in office, Đedović announced that the government should consider reforming the energy sector. In early November 2022, Đedović announced the increase of price of electricity and stated that "lithium mining should be considered"; a few days later, she stated that "Serbia will be an important source of rare minerals in the world".

Personal life According to Đedović, her parents were engineers; her father was an entrepreneur in Yugoslavia, while her mother worked at a Slovak company. and has four children in total; two of them were adopted. Her second marriage is with Serbian composer Damir Handanović on 2023 with whom she is expecting a child.