Vladislav Lalic new member of Foreign Investors Council's Managing Board – FIC not to join Mixed Chambers Council

The Foreign Investors Council held its annual Assembly meeting, in which a number of important decisions were reached.

The members voted in favor of a change of the election model for the Council's Managing Board and decided against joining the Mixed Chambers Council of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia. The Assembly also appointed Vladislav Lalic, Regional Property & Expansion Manager at IKEA South East Europe, as new Managing Board member, filling the vacated spot in the board, the FIC's report states.

Regarding the plans for 2017, President of the Council, Yana Mikhailova, said that FIC would continue to advocate for improvement of business environment, better implementation of laws and cutting unnecessary bureaucracy .

According to the Assembly's decision, the FIC will have a new election model for the Managing Board from 2017, ensuring consistency and inflow of fresh energy to the main managing body of the Council.

The Council will feature a mixed team/individual model, according to which 7 board members will be elected as a team, whereas 4 members will be elected through individual nominations.

The Assembly once again confirmed the Council's desire to actively cooperate with all the important factors through specific regulatory projects, rather than through widespread associations such as the Mixed Chambers Council, the report adds.

– We believe in true value of synergies, which enable exchange of knowledge, build leverage, but at the same time secure independence of all parties involved. Although FIC will not join Council of Mixed Chambers, we remain open to work with all stakeholders, including Serbian Chamber of Commerce and other members of this Council, to overcome specific impediments for doing business in Serbia – Mikhailova said.

The annual Assembly also provided an opportunity to examine the record of past activities and adopt the annual and financial reports for 2016.

– This was a year of growth for FIC. While membership base remained stable, trend of growth continued based both on expanded operations of members and inflow of new members. FIC members today account to EUR 28.7 billion of investments (EUR 5.2 billion more than in 2015), 21.7% of GDP share (3.7% more than in 2013), 22% of Serbian exports, and employ 94,000 people. All this witnesses that FIC members are the key drivers of the Serbian economy – said Mikhailova.

The FIC has also continued increasing the number of activities and services provided to members.

In addition to its most well known project, the White Book, and the visit to Brussels, within which the Council had successful meeting with representatives of the European Commission, the Council has organized 38 meeting with representatives of the Government, carried out more than 45 regulatory projects, communicated with more than 200 members of partner organization and had 30 media activities, the report adds.

FIC - Savet stranih investitora

Privredna komora Srbije

IKEA Srbija d.o.o. Beograd

Foreign Investors Council

FIC

Vladimir Lalic

Mixed Chambers Council

CCIS

IKEA Serbia

Yana Mikhailova

FIC Managing Board