So far, 2023 has proved to be an eventful year for the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, filled with numerous exciting gatherings, workshops and achievements, while the SSCC has also managed to introduce two new special membership packages.
2023 SSCC SUMMER BUSINESS COCKTAIL PARTY
This year’s SSCC Summer Business Cocktail Party was hosted by IT security company Sky Express and brought together around 50 guests. It was held, as is tradition, at Belgrade Waterfront’s La Cucina restaurant.
Speaking on this occasion, SSCC guest of honour H.E. Ambassador Urs Schmid presented the main conclusions of the 11th session of the Swiss-Serbian Joint Economic Commission, which was held in Bern on 7th June.
SSCC President Majo Mićović announced the association’s upcoming activities, including the expansion of the SSCC network with the addition of institutional partners in Switzerland, meetings of the SSCC Working Group on Digitalisation, as well as the results of the recent survey of the local business climate. He also noted that the SSCC had, based on his initiative, helped in the establishing of the Swiss-Montenegrin Chamber of Commerce.
JUNE 2023 FIRST MEETING OF SSCC WORKING GROUP ON DIGITALISATION
The first meeting of the SSCC Working Group on Digitalisation was held on 13th June 2023, on the premises of member company Roche d.o.o. The main topics of discussion addressed by participants included artificial intelligence and its current regulatory framework, cyber-security and data protection, investment in R&D and new technologies, particularly in the fields of agriculture and the healthcare system, and the digital transformation of companies. The next meetings have been scheduled for autumn 2023.
MAY 2023 WORKING BREAKFAST: HR & LEGAL CHALLENGES IN THE IT SECTOR
May’s SSCC Working Breakfast on HR & the legal challenges facing the IT sector was organised in cooperation with SSCC member company TSG Law office and gave participants an opportunity to find out about the current challenges confronting IT companies in Serbia due to the latest global events that are being increasingly reflected on our market. The very dynamic discussion held during this working breakfast led to an additional event on this topic being held in June 2023.
APRIL 2023 SPEED BUSINESS MEETING
A Speed Business Meeting held on 24th April included the participation of members of six bilateral business associations: the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Slovenian Business Club, the Croatian Business Club, the Hellenic Business Association of Serbia and the Belgian-Serbian Business Association. The event brought together over 70 representatives of member companies from various business sectors. During 10 eight-minute “one-on-one” meetings, the participants had the opportunity to quickly and efficiently present their companies to potential partners, exchange information and consider opportunities to cooperate more closely.
APRIL 2023 SSCC MEMBERS’ REUNION
The SSCC Members’ Reunion was hosted by member company Zuehlke Engineering and included presentations by companies Zuehlke Engineering, Winsedswiss Education Group and Nicoll Curtin. The official section of the event was followed by a networking cocktail reception that gave SSCC members an opportunity to exchange business ideas and explore potential business partnerships.
MARCH 2023 SEC SWISS IMPULSE SESSIONS WEBINARS
A webinar entitled ‘Metaverse, Virtual Worlds, NFTs & Communities’ was held in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland – Central Europe (SEC) and included guest lecturer Robert Iken, founder of Morrow Ventures from Jung von Matt, one of the leading advertising agencies in Europe. SEC was founded as a non-profit organisation in Zurich in 1999 and has since grown to include 17 countries from the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).
MARCH 2023 CYBER SECURITY TRAINING INTENDED FOR ALL EMPLOYEES
In cooperation with SSCC member company Sky Express d.o.o., a webinar entitled ‘Cyber security training intended for all employees’ was held in March 2023. Companies suffer their most serious data breaches due to a lack of adequate employee training. This webinar offered a free-of-charge opportunity to upgrade the cyber-security knowledge of all employees and prevent companies from being subjected to cyber-attacks.
APRIL 2023 SSCC BUSINESS CLIMATE SURVEY 2023
The SSCC Business Climate Survey in Serbia 2023 was conducted among the members of the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce in April. The results of the survey are intended to provide insight into the SSCC business community’s confidence in the Serbian market and an understanding of the main challenges they face and concerns they have. Most of the survey respondents (71.43%) rated the current business climate in Serbia as satisfactory.
They also expect conditions for doing business in Serbia to remain unchanged compared to last year, according to a majority of surveyed companies drawn from the SSCC business community. More specifically, 17.86% expect the business environment in Serbia to improve in 2023 compared to 2022, while 53.57% of respondents believe it will remain the same as in 2022.
The results also showed that the majority of surveyed companies expect to see further improvements to the business environment in the following areas: public institution efficiency and administrative procedures, law enforcement, and ensuring legal security and stability.
With regard to the development of digitalisation in Serbia, surveyed respondents assessed e-banking as the most satisfactory area and e-procurement as the least satisfactory. Finally, a majority of surveyed companies expressed satisfaction with SSCC’s work with regard to its plan of activities, communication and transparency.
UPCOMING: OCTOBER 2023 SWISS FORUM “BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS”, BERN, SWITZERLAND
The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO, and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, FDFA, in collaboration with the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein, are organising the Swiss Forum “Business and Human Rights”, which will take place in Bern, Switzerland, on Wednesday 18th October, 2023.
The Forum aims to promote good practices and raise awareness of human rights due diligence among Swiss companies. The Forum will provide information on current legal requirements and the expectations of the Federal Council, as well as offering a unique opportunity for companies to exchange good practices. Representatives of business, leaders from different sectors, policymakers, academics and civil society experts are invited to discuss, debate and present their approaches to pressing human rights issues.
FEBRUARY 2023 SSCC GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2023
On the occasion of the SSCC General Assembly 2023, SSCC President Majo Mićović presented an overviewo f Swiss-Serbian economic relations. The achievements of the association in 2022, plan of activities for 2023 and financial reports were all presented to members and adopted unanimously by the SSCC Assembly.
UPCOMING: OCTOBER 2023 NEW: SSCC GOLD AND PREMIUM MEMBERS 2023
The SSCC has introduced two new special membership packages: SSCC Gold member package, and SSCC Premium member package. Both packages offer the possibility for increased corporate visibility, together with many other options for promoting member companies!