Western Balkans Automotive Industry Excellence Center founded in Kragujevac - corresponding centers in Bitola, Bar, Zenica and Tirane

The Western Balkans Automotive Industry Excellence Center, which will be working on forming regional network of small and mid-sized enterprises for the sake of joint appearance in global automobile market, was opened today in Kragujevac (September 15, 2009). That Center will connect Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Albania into a large business network, and it will contribute to greater inflow of foreign investments.

The Excellence Center is opened within the Regional Chamber of Commerce Kragujevac, while the partners in the automotive industry development project are the Chamber of Commerce Leipzig and the Chamber of Commerce Tirane, and the project is financed by the Association of European Chambers of Commerce with the headquarters in Brussels.

The project should create a new image of the Western Balkans as an attractive investment destination for global and European automotive industry, which would leave open the possibility for entrepreneurs and local administrations in the countries of that region to find new sources of finance and strategic partnership for their development plans. The estimates are that, thanks to that Center, about 200 companies may get the job opportunity.

The project in Serbia will be realized through partnership with the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and regional chambers of commerce in Valjevo, Kruševac and Užice.

In association with Dutch organization SPARK, a network of corresponding centers has been opened in Tirane, Bitola, Bar, and Zenica, which should stimulate regional development and cooperation, SME development, as well as integration of the automotive industry of Western Balkans into European and global automotive industry.

The Center was opened by Dušan Puača, the President of the Regional Chamber of Commerce Kragujevac, and Geri Ziener from the Chamber of Commerce of Leipzig.