Niš Investment Forum: Infrastructure attracts investors

The second Niš Investment Forum - NIF09 was held on 9th October, with the title “Preparing the future – today’s challenge for tomorrow’s benefit”.

In partnership with the City of Niš (Southern Serbia), this international conference, a unique business meeting, was dedicated to investment opportunities in Southern Serbia (regions of Niš, Pirot and Prokuplje). NIF was created as an initiative in 2008, in the Center for Civil Society Development PROTECTA, which deals with the economic development of the region. - Two main topics of this year’s conference are transport and tourism, and they will be discussed through public discussions and presentations by the representatives of the Serbian Government, regional and local authorities, and representatives of international financial and business organizations and institutions. I would particularly stress that our guests are representatives of 12 embassies from all over the world, and in comparison to the last year NIF has much higher number of investors. Thanks to all the ministries that have sent representatives, but I have to say that the absence of ministers themselves, brings to us a sort of concern – whether it means that this region is not so important for the Government of the Republic of Serbia - said at the opening of the Forum CEO of NIF Mladen Jovanović. Mayor of Niš Mr. Miloš Simonović, welcomed the participants and expressed his satisfaction over the presence of representatives of the diplomatic community and representatives of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce, the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce of Croatia and Bulgaria. - Your presence here says there are opportunities and possibilities that in a few years, this region looks different – with many more employees and more developed infrastructure. It is a goal of Niš Investment Forum, to promote our chances and potentials. Significant regional experience Skip Bornhuetter, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia and CEO of Philip Morris International for South East Europe, believes that Niš and South-Eastern Serbia provide a lot of obvious opportunities to investors. - First, its location in the center between three capitals – Belgrade, Sofia and Skopje. Upcoming revitalization and completion of Corridor 10 will significantly improve the transport of people and goods. Development of Niš airport will make this region closer to many European destinations. And finally, Niš is the center of education that provides educated work force. With the cultural initiatives of national importance and dynamic social life, Niš has confirmed its role as a regional center. We believe that infrastructure development is one of the most important things to attract investors. During the day there were also presented the most promising projects from Niš, Pirot and Prokuplje. However, the most important discussions took place behind closed doors, in the specially designed area called Meeting Zone, where a series of meetings were held, which expect to bring concrete results in the nearest future. Mayor of Niš Mr. Miloš Simonović announced the arrival of two low-cost air companies at Niš airport, already in early December, with the winter timetable. It is Italian Wind Jet and Swedish MCA Airlines. Investment in Corridor 10 Representative of Ministry of Infrastructure Mr. Dejan Lasica spoke about the importance of Corridor 10, which exceeds not only regional but also national significance. - The natural competitor - Corridor 4 is a dangerous threat, and if we do not complete Corridor 10, all the transport flows, and therefore the economy and the money will go with our neighbors Romanians and Bulgarians. He explained that today the transit railway is worth about 50 million euros, and with new higher standards, it we would be a minimum of 200 million euros. It is estimated that the entire corridor will cost 4.5 billion euros, which is pretty scary figure when you say, but in the first phase of four years the Serbian government is planning to spend not more than one billion.