This autumn there were openings of several new factories and production facilities. In October 19, one of the leading Turkish textile companies, Aster Textile, opened a factory in Nis. Aster invested EUR 9 million in the factory, which has been equipped with modern machinery, and 300 workers have been employed. Few days later, French company Mecafor opened a factory for the production of metal car components in Kikinda in which it has invested EUR 4 million and will employ, for a start 55 people. In November, Chinese company Eurofiber opened its new production facility in Cuprija. So far, it has been invested around EUR 1 million in the new production facility, while the total investments in Eurofiber would amount to around EUR 13 million, the factory would employ around 200 workers in the next three years.
At the recently published Doing Business list of the World Bank, Serbia reached the 47th place, and it is among the countries that have made the greatest progress. Based on criteria of the ease of doing business, Serbia is ranked among the top 10 countries in the world out of 189 countries, which have made most progress in this area.
The most deserving for Serbia’s progress on this year's list, as stated in the "Report on business conditions in 2017: Equal Opportunities for All", are the three economic reforms - the issuance of building permits, registration of property and starting a business.
On December 13 -14 Belgrade hosted very first Southeast European Aviation Summit. The event organized by Tango Six Events, gathered 320 delegates from all over the world and more than 60 representatives of renowed aerospace companies. Key speakers of the event were Mr. James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Dane Kondic, CEO of Air Serbia, Sinisa Mali, Belgrade Mayor, etc. Both days of the event hosted numerous panelists, exeperts in the aviation industry that discussed various subjects and current challenges of the industry.
Development Agency of Serbia and the Agency for Development of SMEs of the Republic of Srpska organized the Second Economic Forum that gathered more than 200 participants. The event was held at the Novi Sad fair premises on November 18. The Forum was opened by Mr. Igor Mirović, President of Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina; Mr. Nedeljko Cubrilovic, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska; Mr. Petar Djokic, Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of the Republic of Srpska; Mr. Marinko Djukic, Director of the Republic Agency for SME Development of the Republic of Srpska, and Mr. Zeljko Sertic, Development Agency of Serbia Acting Director.
Organizers, jointly with the European Network of Entrepreneurship, coordinated about 400 meetings, between companies and clusters not only from the Serbian Republic and the Republic of Srpska, but also from neighboring countries.
The gathered representatives of various sectors in the context of international business meetings had the opportunity to directly promote their business activities, products and services, establish new business contacts and find potential business partners. As an accompanying program of the Forum was organized panel discussions with development agencies, chambers of commerce and other institutions and organizations was also an opportunity for promotion and networking.
During the October and November numerous foreign companies officially started their investment projects in Serbia. Italian Manifatture Settentrionali signed contract with the Municipality of Vrbas for buying a construction land in order to build new textile factory facilities, an employ 70 workers. After decades this will be the first Greenfield investment that has arrived in Vrbas. The Municipality of Nova Varos, and Turkish company Mercer Trade, have signed an agreement on the lease of a part of the facility of the former furniture factory Inova in Kokino Brdo for a period of a decade. The Turkish investor will employ a total of 140 workers, and will invest EUR 3 million in equipment and improving the production, which is mostly oriented to export to the Turkish market. Japanese company Yazaki signed an investment agreement with the Government of Serbia for the 25,1 miliion EUR worth project that will be implemented in Sabac and will employ 1,700 workers. The company will produce cable kits for Daimler trucks in this town. Also, Italy's La Linea Verde Group started building a factory for vegetable production and processing in Dobrinci near Ruma. The company will invest EUR 8 million in the factory in the first phase, employ 150 workers, while the works will be completed in May 2017. Another Italian company, Aunde have signed with the Ministry of Economy an agreement on the construction of another factory in Jagodina. An additional 400 workers will be employed in the new factory. German Leoni, with the Government of Serbia, signed an agreement on the construction of a new facility for the production of car cables in Nis, worth EUR 22 million, and the creation of 2,200 new jobs. Also, German Kromberg & Schubert with the Government of Serbia, signed an agreement on the construction of the factory for auto industry in Krusevac. Overall investment will be worth 29 million EUR, and in the first phase will employ 2,500, and later another 1,500 workers.
At this year's international fair of food industry "SIAL 2016", which took place from 16 to 20 October in Paris, France, at the National stand of Serbia, jointly organized by the Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS), 19 Serbian companies presented their products and services.
Domestic companies exhibitors were Master Frigo, Mundorama, Sicoberry, Cool Food, Kozmetik Plus, Hibrid, Basket, PFI, Planter, Bilje Borča, ITN Group, Jugprom, Moravac ZZ, Voćar, Pionir, Agranela, Laki, Venac and Yumis.
SIAL is the leading trade fair for the food industry in the French market and the European Union, which is held every second year in Paris. In addition to the fair Anuga is one of the world's largest exhibition of food industry.
Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) in cooperation with the Belgrade Fair, organized an investment conference on the furniture industry in Serbia, "Serbian Furniture Industry Conference". The conference, that was opened by Mr. Zeljko Sertic, RAS Acting Director, was dedicated to the presentation of the potential of Serbian furniture industry, investment opportunities, as well as the experiences of investors that are already doing business in Serbia, local businessmen and international institutions on various projects in this industry. Their experiences to potential investors and partners in the conference introduced companies GIR, Jela Jagodina, HealthCare, USAID, Studio structure, as well as representatives of relevant institutions of the country.
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