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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Italian investment in Serbia doubles in 2005

Belgrade, 19 June 2006

State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of International Economic Relations Vlatko Sekulovic has said that Serbia’s exports to Italy have grown by 80% compared with 2004, which resulted from intensive work on promoting Serbia and Italy as well as Italian investment in Serbia.

Sekulovic said in presentation of the Italian region of Tuscany in Belgrade that Italian investment in Serbia increased by 50% in 2005 and highlighted that good results came after “Italia a Belgrado” event, which was organised in Belgrade for the second consecutive year in 2005.

Italian businesspeople dealing with production of furniture, textile, footwear and clothes will have bilateral talks with Serbian partners tomorrow as well, Sekulovic said adding that each Italian representative will have the chance to meet with ten potential partners from Serbia.

According to Sekulovic, Serbia and Tuscany could develop cooperation in the sectors of chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry and food industry as well as in agriculture, wood processing, production of car parts and metal processing.

Sekulovic highlighted Serbia’s good geographic position, qualified workforce, equal terms for doing business both for local and foreign investors as well as the chance to enter the Russian market thanks to special free trade agreement between Serbia and Russia.

Businesspeople from Serbia were also presented with the Tuscan business model in which the most important role is played by a network which is made up of 12 industrial clusters, 240 research and development centres linked to three university centres, as well as 53 service centres for companies which deal with counselling services and participate in transfer of technology.

The clusters represent the network of small and medium-sized enterprises which are specialized for certain branches of business and which are oriented towards markets characterised by a high level of quality, innovation and design.

Italian Ambassador to Serbia, Alessandro Merola said that Serbia has a very favourable and compatible market for Italian entrepreneurs because of its dimensions, expertise and cheap labour, the country’s position, closeness of markets, similar products and the Agreement on Free Trade with Russia.

Merola recalled that 75 Italian companies are doing business in Serbia, who owing to positive experience, are expanding their activities.

Director of the Belgrade office of the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) Enrico Barbieri said that the presentation of the Tuscan model is part of the initiative for founding a service centre in Belgrade, for entrepreneurs in the area of wood processing and the production of furniture, textile, clothes and footwear.

The founding of the centre will be a joint effort by the ICE, the region of Tuscany, the Agency for Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA), the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, and specialised associations, said Barbieri.