A Strong Boost for the Development of the Automotive Industry in Serbia
25. 05. 2010.
- Representatives of the Serbian Government and Fiat group presented Serbian investment potentials and the opprotunities of doing business with Fiat to 150 companies. A successful conference proved that global automotive industry recognized Serbia as its future destination -
On Tuesday May 25, in the crowded conference venue of the Belgrade Sava Center, the first international automotive conference named New Manufacturing Hubs and Supply Chains in Serbia was held. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development and Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA), partnered with Fiat group. Over 150 companies from 20 different countries attended the conference. Among the companies gathered the globally well-known representatives included: Magna, Bosch, Denso, Valeo, Johnson Controls, Delfi, TWD, Mann+Hummel Group, Mitsubishi Electric and many others.
Majority of companies arrived from Italy (55), followed by Serbia (38), Slovenia (15) and Germany (12). It is also important to mention Japanese and Austrian companies along with the representatives of the companies from USA, Russia, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Poland, as well as the countries from the region (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Component suppliers from the three key continents for the automotive industry - Europe, North America and Asia - also participated in the conference. „The attendance was excellent since this was an investment conference devoted to a sector heavily effected by the economic crisis. At the same time, it proved the attractiveness of the investment offer that Serbia holds in the automotive sector," Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic explained.
The Government of the Republic of Serbia declared automotive industry as one of the three sectors of strategic importance for the country's economic development. Therefore, a package of generous investment incentives for companies interested to expand their manufacturing activities into Serbia was presented at the conference. This Program enables the foreign companies to learn more about Serbian investment potentials through direct communication with the representatives of republic and local authorities as well as to consider opportunities for potential cooperation with the representatives of FIAT .
Since 2000, almost one billion euros streamed into Serbia through the 35 investment projects in the automotive industry. The biggest investor certainly was FIAT, who was also the co-organizer of this conference.
Besides the Government officials and managers of the FIAT group, representatives of development and commercial banks as well as local authorities were present at the conference. The goal of the Government of the Republic of Serbia is to include various regions in the investment projects, not only the city of Kragujevac. Therefore, the cities of Nis, Zajecar, Novi Pazar, Subotica, Pirot, and Sabac presented their offers, while representatives from devastated municipalities also attended the conference.
