French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce presented in Belgrade

- French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce will represent a stimulus for strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries, especially in the fields of trade and investments - it was said today (October 8, 2009) at the press conference occasioned by opening of that organization in Belgrade.

- Previous positive experiences of French investors are the best recommendation for other foreign companies to invest in Serbia - said Jean-Francois Terral, the Ambassador of France to Serbia, and added that the investments of France had reached 500m USD, and that French companies employed 6,000 people in Serbia, which was only fraction of the potential for the cooperation between the two countries.

- We often organize meetings that are attended by the members of the Parliament, politicians and ministers who are in charge of economic issues in Serbia, which gives us the opportunity to discuss various relevant themes with them. Foreign investors and our members can give suggestions to the government representatives at these meetings, which leads to improvement of the operations of their companies and the whole economy in Serbia - said Eric Blanchetete, the President of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the President of the Executive Board of Findomestic Bank.

- Attracting of French investors to Serbia and promotion of the advantages of investments in Serbia are among the main goals of French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce. Besides, we also identify French companies that may be interested in Serbian market, we supply them with the necessary information and help them form the companies and operate in Serbia, but we also help local companies enter French market - said Nebojša Radaković, the authorized representative of French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the CEO of "Danone Adriatic".

The guests were addressed by Costin Borc, the Vice President of French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the CEO of company "Lafarge", who pointed to positive example of operations of this company in Serbia as the first privatization and investment of French capital.

French chambers of commerce in foreign countries, some of which are over 100 years old, represent independent associations that are organized in compliance with the local laws, and they gather French companies that operate abroad.