If there initially existed differences of opinion and resistance, today – nine months on – they are almost insignificant in light of the advantages and benefits that have been brought to companies by the new way of organising the chamber and its functioning as a unique, representative association of all businesspeople and entrepreneurs
Businesspeople have recognised the newly reformed chamber as a place of reliable information, useful services and secure support at all stages of business, with effective mechanisms for furthering their interests and strengthening their impact on creating conditions for doing business and investing.
We have ensured that no regulation is proposed without the opinion of the Chamber, i.e. the economy, having previously been obtained. Representatives of the CCIS represent the economy in more than a hundred working groups, commissions and other working bodies for changes to existing regulations and the adoption of new ones in the 27 negotiating groups for Serbia’s EU accession.
We have also established 13 permanent working groups with government ministries and the National Bank of Serbia in order for us to solve the problems of businessmen quicker and more efficiently.
We have ensured that no regulation is proposed without the opinion of the Chamber, i.e. the economy, having previously been obtained
Since the beginning of the year, amendments to regulations have incorporated 25 initiatives of businesspeople from various sectors of industry and services, and at the beginning of September we submitted to the Government the sixth quarterly analysis of the impact of implementing regulations important for the economy, in which another 60 initiatives were collected to eliminate completely tangible problems which companies face in their daily operations. They are given additional strength thanks to the fact that they have been collected and harmonised via the system of 17 regional parliaments in which businesspeople themselves elected their own representatives in the form of owners and managers of as many as 685 companies and through affiliated associations of the CCIS, the work of which includes the daily participation of 1,577 companies.
We have also grown into the only organisation in Serbia today that can lead Serbian companies to the most important world fairs, and in so doing cover more than 80 per cent of the costs, for our companies to establish contacts on all markets, to enable them, here in Serbia or anywhere in the world, to talk to dozens of potential business partners from abroad in a single day…
Last year the appearances of our companies were organised eight times, and this year we are taking them to 18 fairs around the world. Over the past year, we have organised more than fifty major business forums and conferences in the country, the region and the wider world, with around 7,000 bilateral talks between domestic and foreign companies.
We have developed our own unique service – we organise supplier days for multinational companies that see in the CCIS their most reliable partner for identifying suppliers from Serbia and the region. For local companies, this is a chance to present themselves and open the door to their supply chains at no extra cost.
We continually introduce new services that ease daily operations and contribute to strengthening the capacity of the economy and bringing it closer to businesspeople. The number of telephone and written inquiries from businesspeople to the Business info service has doubled this year. Services and documents issued by the CCIS to businesspeople can now be obtained from the nearest regional chamber and electronically.
In less than a year we have digitised 21 services, making us the leaders in this area in the region. We have independently developed several online applications and platforms with the most useful information from all segments relevant to the business. And in Serbia we have unified the most complete database, macro and microeconomics, with statistics from all relevant domestic and foreign sources, which we established this year, while strengthened internal capacities enabled us to develop new analytical services – useful tools for managing and planning operations, and for the decision making of companies already operating here and potential investors.
When it comes to the results to date of our initiative and activities aimed at introducing and promoting dual education, I would note that about 3,000 school pupils, 60 schools, 19 educational profiles and 200 companies are engaged in the dual education model, while a law has been prepared that should also soon be officially submitted to the government. Simultaneously, the CCIS education sector, for employees and managers in the corporate sector, after about 80 educational programmes implemented in the first half of the year, currently offers the same amount of open seminars and licensed training courses.