Red tape slashed by mid-yearRed tape for foreign investors will be slashed by mid-year
March 07, 2002
Goran Pitic
Belgrade, March 7, 2002 - Administrative barriers to doing business in Serbia will be drastically reduced through a series of legislative amendments by June or July of this year, according to Minister of International Economic Relations Goran Pitic, Belgrade based Politika daily reported.
Ministry conducted a survey entitled Removing Barriers to Foreign Investment in Serbia, with the input of over 100 firms operating in the country, aimed at identifying key problems slowing business operations and costing foreign investors time and money. Among the main bureaucratic obstacles are complicated administrative procedures and a slow court system, which can take weeks to resolve claims.
Pitic said that legislative amendments addressing 50 critical issues have been prepared or are already in legislative procedure, aiming to seal up institutional vacuums and quicken the pace of business.
"We expect that through legislative amendments, resolving issues in tax structures, and precisely defining the status of foreign investors, we will make enourmous improvement in the local investment climate by mid-year and will jump into the ranks of attractive areas for investment," Pitic said, adding that a level of risk still exists but that this risk is falling according to international analysts.
Pitic said that in order to prepare for the expected establishment of a pan- Balkan free trade zone by early 2003, the country must urgently work to make the market as attractive as possible to foreign investors, who will be able to freely mobilise capital across borders according to local conditions.
https://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2002-03/07/322980.html