Serbia recognized by foreign investors as good place to invest in, law implementation cited as main problem

The new executive director of the Foreign Investors Council in Serbia, Aleksandar Ljubic, said that Serbia was a good place to invest in, that the trend of the arrival of foreign investors would continue and that all the laws adopted in Serbia were more or less in line with the EU regulations, but that the main problem was law implementation.

He says that FIC representatives work with the Government of Serbia in joint organizations and that they inform those in charge of the problems in the field, while also taking part in addressing those problems.

– When the Tax Administration gives one answer to a company in one city and another answer to the same company in another city, that’s a red light for the FIC – Ljubic says.

According to him, Serbia has comparative advantages over other countries: the CEFTA, the free trade agreement with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as good relations with the Middle East.

When asked what should be done to have investors come in even greater numbers, Ljubic said that the process of privatization, the corporatization of public companies and the reform of the public administration should be completed. The policy of public procurement procedures should be implemented consistently, and the procedures should be made more transparent and available to the economy, he said.

– Companies don’t like to see disruptions in the market. The FIC is against the passing of laws without a public discussion, as our members, which are parts of large multinational companies, then don’t have enough time to prepare for the implementation or to initiate it within the legal deadline, which is a problem – Ljubic said.

FIC - Savet stranih investitora

Vlada Republike Srbije

Poreska uprava Srbije

Aleksandar Ljubić

foreign investors

laws

European regulations

CEFTA

free trade agreement with Russia

free trade agreement with Belarus

free trade agreement with Kazakhstan

privatization

corporatization of public companies

reform of public administration

summary passing of laws

public discussion

multinational companies