Dinkic invites Italian investors to invest in Serbia

Source: Tanjug Monday, 15.04.2013. 18:16
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Minister of Finance and Economy Mladjan Dinkic called on Italian investors to invest in Serbia, highlighting Serbia’s numerous advantages, including favorable tax system, skilled workforce, financial incentives for investments and free trade agreements with the EU, Russia and other countries, it was announced on the Serbian government's website. In an address to an Italian business delegation on a visit to Serbia, Dinkic said that there were about 500 companies from Italy operating and employing about 20,000 people in Serbia.

In 2012 those companies had a turnover of €2.5 billion, he said.

According to him, the annual turnover of Italian companies will reach €4 billion this year owing to Fiat's investment.

As he said, the largest Italian investments in Serbia so far have been made in the automotive industry, textile, food and furniture industries as well as in the finance sector.

The Finance and Economy Minister noted that last year's foreign trade with Italy was at €2.4 billion, adding that Italy was Serbia's second largest export partner and third largest import partner.

The minister said Serbia had doubled its exports to Italy in the first two months of 2013, thus reporting a surplus in trade with that country for the first time in history.

He voiced his expectation that thed trend would continue until the year's end.

Dinkic said that Italy would top the list of Serbia's export markets, thus pushing Germany to the second place.

Dinkic said that the expected economic growth in Serbia was 2%, while exports should grow by at least 25%, which would significantly increase the coverage of imports by exports and contribute to investments from Italy.

Inviting Italian businesspeople to invest in Serbia, the Minister said that Serbia was the only country in Europe to have free trade agreements with the EU, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey and EFTA and CEFTA countries, which together constituted a market of one billion people.

Dinkic said that Serbia and Russia had excellent relations, adding that the construction of South Stream opened up an opportunity to form joint ventures with Italian companies involved in these projects.

When it comes to energy sector, there are great opportunities for investment in renewables, so there is room for Italian investments in projects on the Serbian rivers, Dinkic said.

He added that the construction of a motorway to the west of the country, that is, to the Montenegrin border, was a priority.

The finance and economy minister also pointed to financial incentives granted by the Serbian government to investors.

- Our goal is to make you feel good in Serbia and find an economic interest in investing in our country, but we also want Serbia to benefit from this - Dinkic said and added that Italian investors who were already in Serbia had increased investment and expanded their production.

Italian Ambassador to Serbia Armando Verrocchio said that Italy had a great interest in helping Serbia develop as it was a factor of stability in the region.

For Italian businesses, Serbia is a natural platform for the penetration of other markets such as Russia or Turkey, he said.

Verrocchio said that Italy was one of the most important countries supporting Serbia's European integration process.
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