Belgrade, October 27th, 2010 – The White Book 2010 has been presented to the Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and the highest Government officials by the Foreign Investors Council.
This year’s edition of the White Book, eighth in a row, serves as the basis for active dialogue between foreign investors and the Government on ways to improve the overall business climate and raise competitiveness of Serbia as an investment location.
The launch event was opened by FIC President Kjell-Morten Johnsen, who emphasised the need to capture lessons learned and implement the new model of growth by accelerating structural reforms. He added that the prudent budgetary and fiscal policy coupled with simplified regulatory framework would represent a solid basis for sustainable economic development. He noted that significant changes have been made by new regulations in the fields of competition protection, foreign exchange, standardization and intellectual property rights and underlined the importance of better implementation in order to achieve their full effects in practice.
Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic presented the future Government plans and reform agenda in the post crisis period. EU Ambassador Vincent Degert expressed support to continuous efforts of all stakeholders to improve the business climate through the introduction of EU standards and best practices. Editor-in-Chief Mihailo Crnobrnja provided more information about the White Book 2010 publication.
The highest Government officials and the FIC Board members engaged in a panel discussion on the business environment in Serbia and ways to improve it. Opinions were exchanged between the Governor of the National Bank of Serbia Dejan Soskic, Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic, Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society Jasna Matic and Minister of Trade and Services Slobodan Milosavljevic. Views of FIC were presented by: FIC President and CEO of Telenor Kjell-Morten Johnsen, FIC Vice President and President of the BoD of Societe Generale Serbia Goran Pitic, FIC Board member and General Manager of Lafarge BFC Costin Borc and FIC Board member and General Manager of PepsiCo West Balkans Vassilis Glinos.
White Book 2010 identifies predictability, consistency and certainty of the business conditions as the key points for future growth. The publication sets forth concrete proposals and reveals suggestions for ease of doing business in Serbia. The emphasis remains on the three pillars of development: infrastructure, real estate and human capital.
FIC representatives reiterated the readiness to be a constructive partner to the Government and to assist the authorities by sharing experiences and giving concrete recommendations for future economic progress of Serbia.
The audio record of the WB10 Launch can be downloaded here (file size: 208 MB).
About FIC:
Foreign Investors Council has since its establishment been building a partnership with the Government of Serbia, always striving to use the extensive experience of its member companies to provide adequate support to the Government of Serbia in the process of transition of the economy, as well as the society at large. The association was established in 2002, currently gathers over 120 companies, which have invested over €11.6 billion and employ more than 69,000 people.
