Number of Companies at Meet the Buyer in Belgrade

Over twenty multinational companies and around 200 Serbian enterprises met in Belgrade at “Meet the Buyer”. This business event was organised by SECEP – Support to Enterprise Competitiveness and Export Promotion, a project funded by the European Union in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development in support to competitive Serbian firms able to apply standards of foreign companies and become part of chain of international suppliers.

Serbian Prime Minister and Minister for Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Serbia Ambassador Vincent Degert opened in Belgrade a business event “Meet the Buyer”. The event, which was organised to help big companies find domestic suppliers of goods and services, gathered the representatives of over twenty multinational companies and around 200 Serbian enterprises.

Minister Dinkic pointed out that Serbia was the most attractive country in the region to foreign investors, adding that he expected foreign investment to reach nearly four billion dollars in 2011. Small and medium enterprises together employ one million people, says Minister Dinkic, and this is why it is important for them to be part of a supplier chain and have their work for multinational companies validated worldwide.

Ambassador Vincent Degert said that the intent of the event organisers was to encourage Serbian companies interconnect and prepare for the EU market. Degert said that the EU had awarded grants worth ten billion euros and loans worth five billion euros to Serbia, all with a view to helping Serbia join the EU as soon as possible. He pointed out that the EU provided 3.5 million euros for the SECEP project and stated that its key objective was to support the development of market economy, and enhance competitiveness and export abilities of small and medium enterprises.

Many companies known worldwide were present at the event in Belgrade, among them Coca-Cola, Lafarge, IKEA, Ball Packaging, Metro Cash & Cary, GlaxoSmithKline, JTI, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Tigar Tiers, US Steel, West, Merkur, etc. Stands of these companies were visited by Minister Dinkic and Ambassador Degert accompanied by SECEP’s Team Leader Andrzej Schafernaker and SECEP’s Senior Expert John Varney.