Foreign Investors Council held the regular annual meeting of the General Assembly, adopting the Annual Report for 2008 and considered the strategies for 2009.

FIC President Stein-Erik Vellan said that these are challenging times for all the markets, including Serbia. That is why it is even more important that the FIC continues the regular dialogue with the Government and other relevant institutions, offering concrete suggestions for upgrading the business environment for the benefit of foreign and domestic companies operating in Serbia.

Stein-Erik Vellan informed on the changes in the Board of Directors. New representative of Carlsberg is the CEO Aleksandar Radosavljević, while the new representative of Henkel is the President Nenad Vuković. On behalf of the FIC, Mr. Vellan extended gratitude to Mr Isaac Sheps, former CEO Carlsberg, and Mr. Nenad Vučinić, former President of Henkel. Also, Mr. Gustavo Navarro, Country Manager of Holcim, withdrew from the membership in the BoD due to increased business commitments and expanded portfolio.

General Assembly adopted the proposal to amend the Statute, so that to open up the FIC to the membership of domestic consultant companies which provide services to the foreign companies, FIC members. Thus, the FIC acknowledges the important role these companies play in the process of setting up and expanding foreign business operations in Serbia.

Starting December 2008, annual membership fee is denominated in dinars, thus symbolically expressing confidence in the local currency.

The Foreign Investors Council was established in 2002, currently gathers over 120 companies, which have invested over $ 14 billion and employ more than 60.000 people.