Goran Knežević ( sr-cyr, Горан Кнежевић, ; born 12 May 1957) is a Serbian politician and former professional basketball player. His father is Vuksan Knežević (b. 1931), former Yugoslav political dissident and writer who was sent to prison camp Goli Otok at the age of 17. He served as the Minister of Economy of Serbia from 2016 to 2020. He previously served as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management from 2012 to 2013. He also served as the mayor of

Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inh ...

from 2004 to 2009 and shortly in 2012.

Early years and education

He was born in

Banatski Karlovac Banatski Karlovac () is a town located in the Alibunar Municipality, in the South Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The town has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbers 5,820 people (2002 c ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. He graduated from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

with a diploma in economics.

Basketball career

Knežević used to be a basketball player in Partizan from

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

from

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

and Proleter from

. During 1978–79 season he won Yugoslav First Federal League,

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup (; ; , ), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup (; , and between 1947 and 1991 as the Marshal Tito Cup (; ; ; ), was one of two major association football, football competitions in Socialist Federal Re ...

and

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

with Partizan. Also, he used to be a president of Basketball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro during a short period between 2005 and 2006.

Political career

Knežević became mayor of

municipality in 2004, and was re-elected in 2008. On 1 October 2008 Knežević was interrogated by Serbian police on suspicion that he was involved in "construction mafia" - helping individuals from organized crime circles launder money by investing it in construction and real-estate development. On 1 April 2009 the DS Mayor was charged with Abuse of Office. The Special Prosecution states that the Zrenjanin municipal budget suffered damages to the amount of EUR 1.6mn, as a result. On 23 April 2009 he was dismissed as a Mayor, since he was in custody since 1 October 2008. He was released from custody on 4 November 2009. On 11 August 2016, Knežević took the office of the Minister of Economy of Serbia, replacing Željko Sertić on that position. In February 2017, the

Prime Minister of Serbia The prime minister of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, премијер Србије, premijer Srbije; feminine gender, feminine: премијерка/premijerka), officially the president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, председн ...

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...

decided to run for the 2017 Serbian presidential elections. He won the elections in the first round and was sworn as the

President of Serbia The president of Serbia (), officially styled as President of the Republic (), is the head of state of Serbia. The current officeholder is Aleksandar Vučić, who was elected in 2017 and has held the role since 31 May 2017. According to the C ...

on 31 May 2017. Weeks later, he gave mandate to Ana Brnabić to form the governmental cabinet. On 29 June 2017, the cabinet of Ana Brnabić was formed, with Knežević keeping his office.

References

External links

Official web-site of Goran Knežević
(in Serbian language) 1957 births Living people Serbian men's basketball players Serbian basketball executives and administrators KK Partizan players KK Vojvodina players KK Proleter Zrenjanin players University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics alumni Government ministers of Serbia Mayors of places in Serbia Members of the National Assembly (Serbia) Yugoslav men's basketball players {{Serbia-basketball-bio-stub