Why Serbia?
Serbia is an internationally recognized leader in business reforms, as well as a proven investment location in the SEE. It offers highly capable intellectual capital and customs free access to the 15% of the world market.
Most Improved Business Environment
Home of the Largest Investors
Belgrade - City of the Future
Duty-free Access to a Market of 1 Billion Consumers
Skilled and Competitive Workers
Most Improved Business Environment
Economist Intelligence Unit: "Serbia is forecast to make the largest improvement in the business environment in the region of Eastern Europe between 2009 and 2013. Out of 16 countries included in the research, Serbia will be leading the region in terms of business reforms by a wide margin".
PricewaterhouseCoopers ranked Serbia as the 3rd most attractive manufacturing and 7th most attractive services FDI destination among emerging economies.
Ernst & Young recorded nearly 150 inward investment projects in Serbia in 2007, 2008 and 2009 - the 2nd best performance in the South East Europe region.
Home of the Largest Investors
The biggest Greenfield projects in South East Europe for three consecutive years awarded by OECD.
- BALL PACKAGING EUROPE, USA, in 2004
- METRO CASH & CARRY, Germany, in 2005
- AIRPORT CITY BELGRADE, Israel, in 2006
Belgrade - City of the Future
Belgrade, the capital, has been awarded as the City of the Future for Southern Europe 2007 by the fDi Magazine.
- Selection criteria - economic potential, cost effectiveness, human resources, IT and telecommunications, transport, quality of life, and FDI promotion.
In 2008 the municipality of Indjija was ranked among the Top 25 Most Attractive locations for foreign direct investment in Europe by the fDi Magazine.
Duty-free Access to a Market of 1 Billion Consumers
Starting a business in Serbia means the opportunity of exporting to a 1 billion people market without paying any customs duties.
Serbia is a member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) comprising of a free trade area with 29 million people. This region is also the one with the highest growth rate in Europe.
Serbia is the only country outside of the Commonwealth of Independent States that enjoys a Free Trade Agreement with Russia.
The Free Trade Agreements with Turkey, EFTA members (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), Belarus, and Kazakhstan envisage mutual abolishment of customs and non-customs duties in trade between the countries.
Added to this are duty-free exports to the European Union and the United States for most products and services.
Finally, with the population of 7.5 million people, Serbian market itself is among the largest in the region.
Skilled and Competitive Workers
Serbia's labor force combines exceptional working efficiency with sizable labor supply. With a unique combination of high-quality and low costs, it is one of the key factors in reaching a strong business performance.
Labor supply is yearly increased by app. 27,000 university and 2-year college graduates and 75,000 high school graduates. Technical education is particularly strong as high school students are among the best performers at world contests in natural sciences, while Serbian engineers are well-known for their expertise. ScienceWatch.com, an open Web resource that combines the newest Science Watch©newsletter material, data, analysis, interviews, and commentary source data drawn from Essential Science IndicatorsSM, for the past two years is rating Serbia as a Rising Star in a broad spectrum of sciences (Agricultural Sciences, Biology & Biochemistry, Chemistry, Clinical Medicine, Computer Science, to name a few).
In addition, Serbia boasts the highest English speaking proficiency in Eastern Europe. Management education has also been accelerated by the introduction of joint graduate and post-graduate courses organized by local universities and renowned Western business schools.