Belgrade, 21th, December 2017 – The Foreign Investors Council held the regular annual session of the Assembly, electing the new Board of Directors and adopting a set of important decisions. As of this year, FIC has a new election model – seven Board members were elected as a team and four as individuals, which contributed to the greater transparency of election process and equal treatment of FIC members. Members also adopted Annual and Financial Report for 2017 and voted for changes of the Statute.
Members re-elected 3 top officials – CEO of Nestlé Adriatic, Bulgaria and Romania Yana Mikhailova for President of the FIC Board of Directors; Telenor Serbia CEO Ingeborg Øfsthus for FIC Vice President Substitute; and Lafarge Serbia CEO Dimitrije Knjeginjić for FIC Vice President Spokesperson. Other Board members include: Crowe Horwath BDM Managing Partner Bogdan Djuric, Ernst & Young Partner and Head of Tax Ivan Rakic, CEO of FCA Srbija Silvia Vernetti-Blina, Corporate Affairs and Communications Director in charge of Adriatic region at JT International a.d. Senta Goran Pekez, Regional Property & Expansion Manager at Ikea Vladislav Lalic,President of the Board of Directors of Societe Generale Bank Srbija Goran Pitic, SGS Beograd, SGS Adriatica, SGS Slovenia & SGS Bosnia and Herzegovina Managing Director Marinko Ukropina and Vip mobile CEO Dejan Turk.
Re-elected FIC President Yana Mikhailova pointed out that ”with a refreshed team, FIC will continue to even more vigorously advocate for acceleration of reforms and stronger economy growth, better implementation of laws and continuation of harmonization with EU regulation. We see the joint Task Force, formed with the Government, as an excellent tool to jointly achieve better progress in most important topics for investors”, concluded FIC President.
Assembly meeting gave the opportunity to track the record of past activities and adopt Annual and Financial Report for 2017. This has been an important year for FIC, which marked its 15th anniversary and brought 2 important novelties – formation of the White Book Task Force with the Government and launch of the new FIC conference “Dialogue for Change”. Apart from its most renowned White Book project and visit to Brussels where FIC had a series of successful meetings with the European Commission,FIC organized 3 conferences, held 41 meetings with Government representatives, executed more than 55 regulatory projects, and had more than 700 media reports. FIC is especially proud with the fact that committees were particularly engaged, having a raise of 25% in activities.
Last, but not least, the Assembly adopted changes of the Statute, out of which the most important ones relate to specifying conditions for membership of domestic companies and simplifying committee work.
About FIC: This is an important year for FIC, as we mark 15 years since our establishment. 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.