WORKING VISIT OF GENEVA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DIRECTOR GENERAL
In early July 2022, at the invitation of the SSCC, Geneva Chamber of Commerce Director General Vincent Subilia made his first visit to Belgrade. The visit provided him with an opportunity to present the canton of Geneva to SSCC members and hold direct discussions with companies on possibilities for further cooperation.
Together with SSCC President Majo Mićović and H.E. Ambassador Urs Schmid, Mr Subilia participated in a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić. The meeting saw PM Brnabić introduce her interlocutors to the good business climate in Serbia and present areas of the economy deemed as being favourable for investment, with special emphasis on digitalisation, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
GENEVA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HOSTS MARKET FOCUS SERBIA SEMINAR
The Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Geneva Chamber of Commerce in June 2022. Following the signing, a seminar entitled “Market Focus Serbia” was held and saw companies operating in the Geneva canton presented with economic developments and trends in Serbia, the experiences of Swiss companies already operating successfully in Serbia, as well as various benefits available to foreign investors in Serbia.
The seminar was opened by H.E. Goran Bradić, ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Swiss Confederation, who welcomed the initiative as a significant step in the further advancement of economic cooperation between the two countries.
SSCC NETWORKING COCKTAIL PARTY
An SSCC business networking cocktail party was held at La Cucina restaurant in May. The event’s guest of honour was H.E. Ambassador Schmid, who gave a welcome address. SSCC members had an opportunity to learn more about the activities of their colleagues, meet new members and establish new business contacts.
WEBINAR “ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT POLICY MEASURES AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO COMPANIES”
A successful online meeting between 12 bilateral business associations in Serbia and the National Employment Service (NES) was held on 17th March. More than 100 companies that are members of associations had the possibility to discover more about ongoing employment and entrepreneur financial support programmes. NES representatives informed participants about all novelties within the scope of the active employment policy measures programme, amounts of financial support available to employers, categories of unemployed persons who can be engaged, as well as other benefits that can be achieved through cooperation with NES.
The event was organised under the joint initiative of the French-Serbian, German-Serbian and Swiss-Serbian chambers, the Chamber of Italian-Serbian Businessmen, the Dutch-Serbian and Belgian-Serbian business associations, the Slovenian and Croatian business clubs, the Hellenic Business Association, the Canadian-Serbian Business Association, as well as the Japanese and Nordic business alliances.
WORKING BREAKFAST “SHORTENING THE WORKING WEEK AND REWARDING EMPLOYEES”
A working breakfast was organised in cooperation with SSCC member law firm Tomić Sinđelić Groza – TSG. The appropriate rewarding of employees is constantly topical, while there is currently increased interest in understanding the mechanism related to the possibility of acquiring company shares, which the recent amendments to the Law on Companies introduced as part of regulatory changes.
The entire presentation was also given a tax context, with participants able to hear about the most important tax breaks currently existing, but also new tax incentives that are available to companies for hiring young people, but also for research and development activities.
SPEED BUSINESS MEETING
A Speed Business Meeting was held in Belgrade in April and included the participation of members of four bilateral chambers: the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce (AHK), the Italian- Serbian Chamber of Commerce (CCIS), the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SSCC) and the Hellenic Business Association (HBA). The event brought together almost 50 representatives of member companies from various business sectors.
INTERNATIONAL COFFEE BREAK
Within the framework of the Kopaonik Business Forum, nine bilateral associations in Serbia brought together representatives of their member companies at the already traditional event called “International Coffee Break” held in the Hotel Grand’s Casa Restaurant. The event was sponsored by two SSCC members companies: Roche company and law firm Tomić, Sinđelić, Groza – TSG.
This third International Coffee Break provided guest participants in the Forum with the opportunity to get acquainted, network, and exchange experiences and ideas. The event was simultaneously also an opportunity to meet representatives of bilateral associations in Serbia and discover more about opportunities for cooperation, activities and plans.
MANAGING THE SECURITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
A webinar on the topic of cyber security was held in March, in cooperation with SSCC member company Sky Express and together with the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Italian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
The webinar marked the first in a series of webinars aimed at demonstrating the importance of the security of information systems and ways to handle challenges posed by information security.
ROUNDTABLE “DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE HEALTHCARE ECOSYSTEM – ONE YEAR LATER”
An online roundtable entitled “Digital Transformation of the Healthcare Ecosystem – One Year Later”, organised by the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce and SSCC founding member company Roche Serbia, was opened by H.E. Urs Schmid, Swiss ambassador to both Serbia and Montenegro. Welcoming participants, he said that this roundtable marked the latest step in efforts aimed at better understanding the implications of the digital transformation of healthcare and enabling discussion on how this transformation can be further implemented to the benefit of more effective healthcare protection.
Roche Serbia and Montenegro CEO and SSCC Vice President Ana Govedarica noted that we today receive huge amounts of data that can help us to significantly improve medical treatments. Information is today collected through so-called Real World Data, which includes data from electronic health records and hospital registries, as well as data obtained from various apps. The management of health data is a key task.
Alongside SSCC President Majo Mićović and Roche Serbia and Montenegro CEO and SSCC Vice President Ana Govedarica, the event was also attended Dejan Kovačević, advisor for Digital Health in the Cabinet of the Serbian Prime Minister, Dr Nick Guldemond, Senior Researcher at Leiden Medical University (Netherlands), I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and Roche partner globally, Branko Radulović, full professor of economics and economic analysis of law at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, and Mirko Jokić, member of the board of the Serbian Haemophilia Society.
ICT NEARSHORING IN ROMANIA, BULGARIA AND SERBIA – WITH B2B MATCHMAKING
January saw the staging of a webinar on the topic of presenting the local market’s ICT sector potential to Swiss companies, in cooperation with Switzerland Global Enterprise.
This ICT sector webinar was jointly organised together with colleagues from the Bulgarian-Swiss and Romanian-Swiss chambers. One novel element of this event was that participants were offered the possibility of virtual B2B meetings.