Belgrade, 17th, December 2014 – The Foreign Investors Council held the regular annual session of the Assembly, adopting the Annual and Financial Report for 2014. Assembly meeting was also an opportunity to review past activities and discuss plans for 2015.
“In 2014, FIC put greatest efforts in 3 directions: establishing close dialogue with the new Government, increasing involvement in EU integration process, and improving dialogue with members by launching several new tools to facilitate better communication within the Association” pointed out FIC President Frederic Coin.
With the new Government in place, FIC made direct contacts with all main decision-makers in the Government in order to present its work and ensure that FIC standpoints are considered in regulatory changes. The FIC organized more than 20 official meetings with the state representatives and participated in almost 40 regulatory projects covering wide scope of areas and including some fundamentally important topics, such as: labour, bankruptcy, construction, inspections, etc. In 2014, the FIC also put in action already well-established dialogue formats, the Reality Check Conference and the White Book launch, as the two building blocks for promotion of FIC standpoints. Changes in the Serbian business environment instigated raising interest of various other stakeholders in the local business climate. Throughout the year, the FIC responded to the interest of more than 180 stakeholders, predominantly via meeting interviews or e-correspondence. Year 2014 was also marked with first official FIC visit to EU Commission with aim to convey that EU support to Serbia is fundamental for improvement of the business environment and to offer FIC assistance in the accession process.
Going forward, FIC will continue to advocate for improvement of business environment, better implementation of laws and cutting unnecessary bureaucracy.
About FIC: The FIC continues to expand, gathering more than 130 foreign companies, who have invested over EUR 22 billion, contributed to 18.0% of GDP in 2013 and directly employ more than 96,000 people in Serbia, based on further growth and inflow of new members. The main goal of the association is to influence the improvement of business climate in Serbia by making concrete reform proposals and building a business portal for communication with the authorities in Serbia.
FIC is also focusing on promoting solid business ethics and high corporate governance principles within the organization and towards local companies, Government, and other external stakeholders. Through support and active engagement of membership, the FIC has proven to be a strict guardian of the business community interests and at the same time a reliable partner to the Government of Serbia and other relevant stakeholders.