With a series of successful meetings with representatives of the European Commission, delegation the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) finalized its visit to Brussels, sixth in a row. Thus, the FIC continued to support the process of European integration of Serbia, being a reliable partner both to the Serbian Government and the European Union.
During a two-day visit, FIC delegation met with representatives of 8 directorate generals of the European Commission: NEAR, ECFIN, TAXUD, EMPL, TRADE, CNECT, SANTE and GROW. In addition, meeting with the Serbian Ambassador to EU Ana Hrustanovic was also held.
At the meeting with Director for Western Balkans Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, FIC President Yana Mikhailova said that “Serbia continues steady but moderate progress in the improvement of the business climate. The positive trend in conducting reforms is evident and the Foreign Investors Council as always offers concrete recommendations all directed towards even stronger economic growth and a better standard of living for citizens”.
The key goal is to continue and accelerate membership negotiations with the EU as a means to improve both business regulation and their implementation. Special attention needs to be devoted to achieving sustainable fiscal consolidation (structural reforms, especially privatization and corporatization of state-owned enterprises) and improving law implementation, especially in the tax area (strengthening tax administration).
In the discussions with EU institutions, the FIC underlined instrumental importance of reforms in the following fields: tax, labour, trade and inspections, food safety, real-estate, digitalization& e-commerce, pharma industry, and general legal framework (specifically bankruptcy and foreign exchange regulations).
As always, FIC underlined its readiness to continue and enhance its engagement to support EU accession process, through exchange and cooperation with both Serbian Government and EU institutions. European institutions were again encouraged to actively support Serbia because mutual collaboration is needed for bringing the Serbian market closer to EU rules and practices. Members of FIC delegation were: FIC President Yana Mikhailova, FIC Board Member Goran Pekez, FIC Executive Director Aleksandar Ljubic and Vice President of FIC Legal Committee Jelena Vukic-Suljagic.
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