Balkan countries boost efforts to draw investment

Balkan countries boost efforts to draw investment

Political stability, co-operation and reforms will lead to foreign investment in the region, officials said.

Balkan states must work together to draw investment, Serbia Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said. [European Bank for Reconstruction and Development]

After years of severe economic crisis, Southeast European countries are eyeing reforms and mutual co-operation in order to become more attractive to foreign investors.

"Now is the key moment for Balkan countries to attract more foreign investment," EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule told the prime ministers of Southeast Europe last month at a meeting organised by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.

None of the Western Balkan countries currently have a functioning market economy, he said. The countries are strained by high unemployment, large budget deficits and public debt.

The prime ministers, in a pledge to improve business conditions, signed an agreement worth 10.5 million euros to support small- and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

Serbia Prime Minister Ivica Dacic told SETimes that in order to attract foreign investment, the region needs stability and mutual co-operation first.

"No one will invest in instability. The Balkan states must organise to realise what the common interest is. If they fail to do so, it will benefit some other regions, not ours," Dacic said.

Serbia plans to pass 21 reform laws by the end of June in an effort to improve business conditions.

Aleksandar Vucic, who is expected to become the country's next prime minister, said new legislation governing labour, bankruptcy proceedings, civil servants and investment permits...