Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia could become leader in attracting foreign investments in South East Europe

Belgrade, 10 September 2007

Serbian State Secretary for employment at the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development Vladimir Ilic said today that Serbia, with a good tax policy, qualified work force and subsidies, could become a world leader in attracting foreign investments, at least within South East Europe.

Vladimir Ilic

In an interview for Poslovi, a National Employment Service publication, Ilic said that the goal of the Serbian government is to reduce unemployment by half during the next five years. It is a tough and ambitious goal, but not impossible to achieve.

Achieving this goal, however, does not depend upon relevant ministries alone but also on a number of other preconditions among which is the country’s entry into the EU, said Ilic and added that it is realistic to expect that unemployment in Serbia will begin to decrease following the completion of privatisation.

He said that the employment strategy contains projections that, after the crucial year of 2008, it is possible to expect a serious growth in employment in Serbia, adding that the rate of unemployment in EU countries is somewhere in between 7% and 9%, while in Serbia in July it stood at 26%.

According to Ilic, Serbia will have to go through a period of stagnation during the current and upcoming year in the context of reduction of unemployment, especially due to the fact that privatisation is not complete yet, and 200,000 persons are employed in companies which are not private.

He pointed to the fact that it is a big question whether the labour market and new employers will succeed in absorbing this number, and the issue will surface once the privatisation process concludes.

Following that, there will be no further redundant employees of this kind, rather it is expected that an even more intensive influx of foreign investments will begin. Enterprises will develop and small and medium-sized enterprises will strengthen, since these are basic preconditions for creating new jobs, said Ilic.

Commenting on the education system, he stressed that generally there is a discrepancy between education and the work force required by the market.

He explained that the labour market has specific demands due to which it will have to undergo urgent and fundamental reforms so that potential employees are trained to fit the needs of employers.

Objections made by employers are that required personnel are unavailable or very few, and the education system does not produce profiles fitting to the labour market, due to which fact a large number of persons registered in the National Employment Service get jobs in a less than expected time frame, said Ilic.

He said that the rate of youth unemployment is one of the key problems, and that in Serbia 48% of young people up to 24 years of age do not have jobs, and a large number of these people work informally.

He stressed that in direct talks with foreign investors he was reassured that they recognise the comparative advantages offered by Serbia, not just in activities related to stimulative measures, but also regarding the work force, which, compared to countries in the region, is far more qualified for future jobs.