Serbia and the other countries of the Western Balkans are attracting the attention of foreign investors thanks to their favourable geographical location and good connectivity with key hubs in Europe and beyond. However, this naturally doesn’t mean that all projects and companies will choose Serbia specifically, because the competition from other countries is very strong
It already became clear at the start of the crisis that the ways of functioning generally, including business operations, would have to change in some segments, and in some aspects irreversibly so. One of those segments is the perception of distance and the possibilities of easily transporting people, products and services that have – from the aspect of globalisation and comprehensive availability – been subjected to absolute re-examination, both during the pandemic and now with even greater intensification, due to the armed conflicts.
It was very soon after the outbreak of the pandemic that global companies and manufacturers began considering directions to relocate their activities, capacities and production processes from the East (primarily from Asia) to points closer to Europe, in order to account for similar situations arising in the future and halting or hampering deliveries of products to European-based parent companies or primary customers. That has now proven itself to be even more relevant. It is highly likely that we are talking about a complete shift in the achievements of globalisation that have enabled fast, easy and cheap availability, and movements of people, goods and services. And companies are anticipating this by creating multi-year plans to relocate operational activities to alternative and more favourable locations. In that sense, Serbia and the other countries of the Western Balkans have become even more significant to foreign investors, given that we enable them to take advantage of a very favourable geographical position that’s well connected to key hubs in Europe and beyond, with good infrastructure and human capacities, as well as competitive operational costs.
Unfortunately, or luckily, global circumstances always create opportunities for some parts of the world to have certain benefits, above all economic, and I think the circumstances are now favourable for us when it comes to attracting FDI
However, this naturally doesn’t mean that all projects and companies will choose Serbia specifically, because all countries – at least in Europe – are now competing to attract investment projects, but we can certainly already see increased attention and inquiries from big names in industry. Serbia has a great advantage compared to all other countries in the region, due to the results it’s already achieved in terms of attracting FDI, the improvements made to various forms of infrastructure that are essential for large investments, and due to the fact that we already possess the knowhow and capacities required to implement such projects.
Unfortunately, or luckily, global circumstances always create opportunities for some parts of the world to have certain benefits, above all economic, and I think the circumstances are now favourable for us when it comes to attracting FDI. The same applies to the relocating and arrival of foreign companies from countries embroiled in conflict, though it is now only noticeable that certain foreign companies are relocating their representative offices from the countries caught up in the conflict to European countries like Czechia, Poland and Slovakia, while some companies and employees of international corporations see Serbia and the Balkan region as relocation options. Our country’s political and economic stability, along with all the other known optimal prerequisites for investing and doing business in Serbia, certainly place us on the world map and in the focus of foreign companies and investors during these turbulent times.
