Intensive cooperation between Serbia and Slovakia - representatives of municipalities and entrepreneurs to travel to Bratislava

(Vladimir Kisela, Igor Furdik, Tijana Ćećezova and Miroslav Kralik)

Slovakian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce will present the "Local Self-Governments in Serbia - Place for Cooperation and Business" project in Novi Sad in few days. Total of ten municipalities from Serbia will take part in realization of that project, the aim of which is to close the gap between Serbian and Slovakian companies.

- We will organize an educational seminar in Bratislava in February 2010, which should last for seven days and gather the representatives of the municipalities from Serbia and the companies that operate in these municipalities, as well as the municipalities and companies from Slovakia – Miroslav Kralik, the President of Slovakian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, said at the second General Assembly of that organization, which was held on November 27th in the Embassy of Slovakia in Belgrade.

Kralik said that the issues that would be discussed in Bratislava would include the problems of local self-government that Slovakia had faced on its way to the admission to European Union, construction of infastructure, ecology, energy...

Subotica, Kikinda, Bački Petrovac, Kovačica, Kragujevac, Stara Pazova, Smederevo, Valjevo, Pančevo and Pirot are the municipalities that will participate in implementation of this project, and Miroslav Kralik also invited other municipalities and companies to join the programme.

- This project, of which realization will last for two years, has been suggested within the scope of the Slovak Aid Programme. We have obtained the grant of 150,000 EUR from Slovakian national agency. Our general partner in this project is the Chamber of Commerce of Vojvodina - said the President of the Slovakian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Kralik pointed out that the aim of the Chamber was to connect Serbian and Slovakian companies because they did not know each others very well, as well as to help the entrepreneurs locate their businesses in some other country and suggest the themes and activities that would result in concrete cooperation between the members of the Chamber.

Igor Furdik, the Ambassador of Slovakia to Belgrade, said at the meeting that he would back all the activities that contributed to improvement of relations between Serbia and Slovakia.

- In four years, which is the time I have spent in Serbia, the economic situation has changed, but not at the rate that I desired. However, both sides want the cooperation to be improved – said Furdik.

He said that the President of Slovakia, Ivan Gašparovič, would come to Serbia at the beginning of December and that part of the visit would be dedicated to economic relations.

Economist Jelena Cvijanović said at the meeting in the Embassy that the biggest problem of insufficient cooperation between Serbian and Slovakian entrepreneurs was the fear of Slovakian companies to invest in an insecure market, as well as the impossibility of Serbian entrepreneurs to travel to Slovakia.

- We expect visa requirements for the citizens of Serbia to be abolished in December, as well as defrosting of the transient trade agreement with EU in as short time as possible, but Slovakian entrepreneurs should use the fact that Serbia unilateraly applies that agreement – said Jelena Cvijanović and added that the entrepreneurs should use the help offered by Slovakian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Vladimir Kisela, a member of the Administrative Board of Slovakian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, agreed that Slovakian companies did not have trust in the market of Serbia and that not that positive image was offered by the media from all around the world, and he pointed out that direct contact and exchange of experiences between entrepreneurs were necessary in order for them to realize all the business opportunities.