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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Belgrade declared city of future in Southeast Europe

Cannes/Belgrade, 16 March 2006

The Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA) stated today that in the second round of the competition for Cities and Regions of the Future, Belgrade has won once again and has been declared the City of the Future in Southeast Europe for 2006/07.

At a ceremony held in Cannes, Mayor of Belgrade Nenad Bogdanovic received the award, reads the statement. Together with the USAID-SEDP project, SIEPA proposed Belgrade as an eligible city for this award.

Apart from Serbia, the region of Southeast Europe includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey and Mediterranean islands (Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily etc). The Turkish city of Manisa was Belgrade's main rival in the competition.

The statement continues that London was declared the City of the Future in Northern Europe, Paris the City of the Future in Western Europe, Brno the City of the Future in Central Europe and Baku the City of the Future in Eastern Europe.

Together with Belgrade, these four cities will compete in the final round of the competition in which one city will be declared the European City of the Future 2006/07.

SIEPA Deputy Director Vesna Peric, who attended the award ceremony, recalled that the US Department of Commerce declared Serbia-Montenegro the Market of the Month. Together with last year's international recognition of economic reforms in the country and victory in the first and second round of this prestigious competition, this recognition sends a positive message about Serbia.

The competition for Cities and Regions of Future is organised by the specialised edition of the Financial Times for foreign direct investment, FDI Magazine. The annual award is given to leading cities on all seven continents. In this way the world’s leading economic magazine recommends attractive investment locations.

Locations were ranked by the following criteria and categories: economic potential, cost effectiveness, human resources, IT and telecommunications, transport, quality of life and FDI promotion.

At the final ceremony where the European City and European Region of the Future 2006/07 will be pronounced, awards will also be given for the best locations in each individual category (Most Cost-effective, Best Promotion Strategy, Best Economic Potential, etc). The winners will be announced in FDI’s April/May issue, reads the statement.