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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia achieves best results in investment and trade policy

Belgrade, 1 December 2006

State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry of International Economic Relations Vlatko Sekulovic said today that Serbia has achieved best results in investment and trade policy, taxation and regulatory reform.

In a press conference at which representatives of the OECD Investment Compact presented the Investment Reform Index 2006, Sekulovic explained that this is an evaluation of surveys on reforms in 2006 conducted in the region of southeast Europe, from Croatia to Moldova, carried out by the OECD Investment Compact for Southeast Europe.

He stressed the survey results of progress Serbia achieved in investment, tax and trade policy, regulatory reform and human resources. However, he noted that Serbia lagged behind in the area of fight against corruption, improving competitiveness and application of appropriate programmes for pre-qualification.

Head of the OECD’s South East Europe Programme Anthony O’Sullivan said that Serbia showed weakest results in the fight against corruption and enforcement of the Law on public procurements.

He therefore recommended that Serbian authorities work on implementation of this law and establish a system for monitoring its implementation.

The Law on protection of competition should be changed by giving larger jurisdictions to the Commission for Protection of Competition, he noted.

The report also said that Serbia has no adequate programmes for education of adults and pre-qualification, O’Sullivan said.

He expressed assurance that the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) will be a good sign for investors as they will enter a market of 60 million people.

Serbia was also commended for reduction of the deadline for VAT return to 45 days, state assistance to companies in order to achieve standards in order to export their products to the EU as well as less administration, especially in the tax system.