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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Foreign investment risk reduced in Serbia

Skopje/Belgrade, 10 March 2005

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus said today that the situation in the Balkans is getting better and that the risk for foreign investment is naturally reducing, which is good because it will lead to a drop in interest rates and create better conditions for providing guarantees.

Miroljub Labus

Labus is attending a two-day summit of heads of states and governments of southeastern Europe in Skopje, called "Forum for Boosting Cooperation". After a meeting with European Investment Bank (EIB) Director for southeastern Europe Grammatiki Tsingou he said that the level of investment in Serbia this year will be at minimum €350 million, the same as last year, of which €60 million will be used for two projects concerning schools and traffic control.

According to Labus, the EIB will also inject €40 million to assist in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Tsingou stressed that the EIB is satisfied with the cooperation with Serbia and the level of implementation of the existing projects there.

Speaking about regional projects such as the Nis-Sofia highway, Labus said that they are a good basis for attracting foreign investment, but that construction of large infrastructure facilities must be first discussed with neighbouring countries.

The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister today also met with his Macedonian counterpart responsible for European integration, Radmila Secerinska. The two officials exchanged experiences in the field of EU accession.

Labus stressed that the process of EU accession is the best way to continue with reforms. After obtaining a positive feasibility study, Serbia will enter the second phase, in which the focus will be the reform of domestic institutions.

The participants in the Skopje summit will examine issues of regional cooperation which are important for preservation of political and economic stability, in line with European and Euro-Atlantic integration flows.