Belgrade, 11th May, 2018 – The Foreign Investors Council held its first ”Dialogue for Change” this year in Hilton Belgrade hotel, dedicated to labour regulations. The format has been changed compared to last year’s events being now a closed, high-level event, which gathered only CEOs of top FIC employers, the Minister of Labour Zoran Djordjevic and Assistant Minister Bojana Stanic.
The main aim of this event was to reach better understanding how to formulate labour regulations which will stimulate employment and at the same time better protect both the rights of the employers and the employees. As an association that promotes EU values and principles, the FIC gives recommendations which should bring EU standards to the Serbian labour market. These entail on one side making business processes more relaxed by streamlining unnecessary administration, but on the other side also improving monitoring and sanctioning of those companies that do not respect the law and rights of the workers. Another important factor is the further development of the education system which can provide quality labour force and thus attract more innovative and technologically advanced industries to the Serbian market.
The discussion with the Minister and Assistant Minister was a strategic one, where CEOs of some of the biggest employers on the market openly shared their personal experiences and opinions. Their key message was that the local labour force represents one of the key advantages of the Serbian market and that there is a great potential to make Serbia one of the most attractive investment destinations.
Both sides recognized that only by investing joint efforts we can make a big step forward in business climate improvement. We all remember 2014 when we all jointly made a big breakthrough in the Labour Law! More relaxed labour regulations coupled with more strict inspection oversight can certainly bring benefits to the country, its citizens and would attract more investments into Serbia.
About FIC: From an independent business association created by 14 companies, we stayed faithful to our principles and grew to gather over 130 companies from all around the globe who have invested EUR 34 billion and directly employ 97,500 peoplein Serbia compared to EUR 150 million of investments and 3.160 employees in 2003!. FIC main goal 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, the Government, and other external stakeholders. Through support and active engagement of membership, 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.
