The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) held the regular annual session of the Assembly, electing the new Board of Directors, adopting the Annual and Financial Report for 2021. For the third time, this year, the “Committee of the Year Award” was rewarded, this time to the FIC Telecommunications & Digital Economy Committee, as the most active committee in 2021.
The new FIC Board of Directors consists of the following officials: Telenor d.o.o. CEO Mike Michel, A1 Serbia & A1 Slovenia d.o.o. CEO Dejan Turk, Belgrade airport d.o.o. CEO Francois Berisot, Country Managing Partner for Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina and Central Cluster Tax Leader Ernst & Young d.o.o. Ivan Rakic, G4S Secure Solutions d.o.o. Managing Director Dawid Sold, Hemofarm and STADA Balkans Cluster President & CEO Ronald Seeliger, JT International Corporate Affairs and Communications Director for Adriatica region Goran Pekez, Nestlé Adriatic Hub South (Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia) Country Manager Marjana Davidovic, Raiffeisen banka a.d. Beograd Chairman of the Managing Board Zoran Petrovic, Roche Serbia and Montenegro General Manager Ana Govedarica and SGS Beograd, SGS Adriatica, SGS Slovenia & SGS Bosnia and Herzegovina Managing Director Marinko Ukropina. As a reminder, The FIC Board of Directors has two permanent institutional members, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), represented by Matteo Colangeli, EBRD Director for the Western Balkans and Head of Serbia, and Alessandro Bragonzi, Head of the EIB Representation for the Western Balkans.
On behalf of the newly elected Board of Directors, FIC President and CEO Telenor Serbia, Mike Michel expressed gratefulness to FIC members for their votes and trust and pointed out that he is honoured and grateful for the opportunity to lead the FIC team for two years more.
“Our elected Board of Directors has the capacity and expertise to continue doing an excellent job in promoting Serbia as a great place to invest. Looking at the past eleven months, we can see that the FIC has been very engaged in all the main aspects of its operations. I would say that all of us have done an incredible job and learnt valuable lessons which will guide us in the future.”, concluded Michel.
Assembly meeting gave the opportunity to track the record of past activities and adopt Annual and Financial Report for 2021. This has been an important year for FIC, which brought new leadership at the level of the Board of Directors. Apart from its best known projects: the White Book, ”Dialogue for Change”, and “FIC Insight into New Regulations”, FIC was highly active throughout 2021, which can be illustrated through the continuity of work of the Task Force for the implementation of White Book recommendations with the Government of the Republic of Serbia, numerous conferences, meetings, and round tables with representatives of all stakeholders. Furthermore, FIC became part of the Council for the Digital Economy Development, Coordination Body for Digitalization of the Health System of Serbia, the National Coalition for the Reduction of Energy Poverty, as well as the Working Group for Public Policy and Regulatory Reform. More information in the FIC Annual Report for 2021 available for free download on the FIC website (www.fic.org.rs).
About FIC: From an independent business association created by 14 companies, we stayed faithful to our principles and grew to gather more than 120 companies from all around the globe who have invested over EUR 36 billion and directly employ more than 100,000 people in Serbia, compared to EUR 150 million of investments and 3,160 employees in 2003! FIC main goal is to influence the improvement of business climate in Serbia by making concrete reform proposals and building a business portal for communication with the authorities in Serbia. FIC is also focusing on promoting solid business ethics and high corporate governance principles within the organization and towards local companies, the Government, and other external stakeholders.
Through support and active engagement of membership, FIC has proven to be a strict guardian of the business community interests and at the same time a reliable partner to the Government of Serbia and other relevant stakeholders.