An investment conference “Serbia Investment Day” was held on 29 October 2014 in London with participation of a large number of British business people along with representatives of UK and foreign companies with offices in London, including those from Serbia.

The investment conference was opened by H.E. Mr. Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia who emphasized that the Government reforms were definitely aimed at making Serbia the most attractive foreign investment country in the region.

In his introductory statement, Prime Minister Vucic presented economic reforms undertaken by the Serbian Government highlighting the importance of recently adopted legislation designed to improve investment climate in Serbia. He placed a special emphasis on political and macro-economic stability, which is a necessary precondition for foreign investments and safety of assets. According to him, economic reforms, growth and curbing unemployment were top priority goals of the Serbian Government.

The audience was also addressed by H.E. Dusan Vujovic, Minister of Finance, who said that Serbia was embarking upon a long journey and that it was high time to make up for the lost two decades. He underscored that one of the major priorities of the Serbian Government was to reform its economy and redirect workforce from public to private sector.

Minister Vujovic recalled that Serbia had to cut wages in the public sector as well as pensions and reduce budget spending to achieve a sustainable economic growth. He added that Serbia was planning to cut budget deficit to 2 – 2.5 per cent by 2017 and reduce the public debt to a sustainable level.

Former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer expressed his conviction that Serbia was absolutely committed to its European path. He said that Serbia achieved the biggest progress in terms of EU integrations in the region, as confirmed in the latest European Commission’s progress report.

Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic and Director of SIEPA Nikola Jankovic presented investment and business opportunities in Serbia putting Serbian economy competitiveness at the forefront.

The Mayor of Belgrade, Sinisa Mali presented “Belgrade Waterfront” project as well as other infrastructure development projects which will be implemented over the next investment cycle. In view of the fact that their implementation required investors’ support, the Mayor stressed the importance of structuring a public-private partnership.

Mr. Piers Marlow, Director of Arriva company, Mr. Rober Knorr, partner in Mid Europa investment fund, Mr. David Banjai, director of Ball Packaging Europe factory in Serbia and Mr. Zeljko Cvijanovic, director of Microsoft for Serbia and Montenegro shared with the audience their positive experience of doing business in Serbia.

At panel discussions, the participants in the conference welcomed economic reforms undertaken by the Serbian Government as well as the adoption of new reform-oriented legislation.

Photos can be seen here.