Vucic: Investors can expect even more support

BELGRADE - Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said that Serbia will turn to a policy of growth and reforms after the current austerity measures and told Italian companies they can expect even more support from the government.

He attended the annual cocktail of the Chamber of Italian and Serbian Companies on Wednesday and received an award for improving the investment environment in 2014 and creating the best conditions for attracting foreign investments in the Balkans.

No other country in the neighbourhood will be able to match Serbia's support and assistance to investors, Vucic noted.

He remarked that Italian companies would be satisfied with the business environment in Serbia, because they would be able to return part of their profits to Italy, and that Serbia would also benefit from those investments, since those Italian companies would pay taxes, filling the budget, and create new jobs.

Serbia will not be at the back of the line in Europe, but its goal is to revive the economy and become an equal member of the EU, he stressed.

"We managed to build the kind of friendship with Italy that brings profit to Italian companies and higher employment rate to our people," he noted, adding that he believed Serbia would welcome 2016 in a better mood.

Italian Ambassador to Serbia Giuseppe Manzo said the two countries' prime minister in Rome on Wednesday called for better relations between the two nations in all areas and more employees in Italian companies operating in Serbia.

Head of the Chamber Andrea Simoncelli said Italian companies were impressed by the Serbian government's reforms, especially by the laws on labour and privatisation, tax reliefs, support for agriculture, creation of...