Swiss SECO Startup Fund to finance 30 companies in Serbia

More than 200 Swiss companies operating in Serbia have invested over EUR 800 million in the country in the past years, and the Swiss SECO Startup Fund is currently financing around 30 companies in Serbia, it was said at the Serbia-Switzerland business forum, within the Second Pan-Serbian Summit, currently taking place in the Swiss city of Dietikon.

The necessity of the mother country's more active involvement in organizing such events, as the economic potentials of diaspora are not utilized enough, was highlighted at the panel, in which around 60 businessmen and representatives of Swiss organizations, Serbian associations in Switzerland and the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia took part.

– The business forum showed that there were enormous non-utilized areas in the relations between Switzerland and Serbia, primarily regarding the economic cooperation. We highlighted the sectors the Swiss could invest in in Serbia. Over 200 companies from Switzerland are doing business in Serbia, and their investments in our country so far amount to more than EUR 800 million – Aleksandar Radovanovic of the CCIS Department for Cooperation with the Diaspora said for Tanjug.

According to him, the SECO Fund, which gets the funds for financing from the Federal Department of Economic Affairs of Switzerland, supports the citizens of Serbian origin working in Switzerland with 50% in grants and favorable loans for company development.

One of the examples of the Swiss financing the Serbian economy, he points out, is the Leskovac-based company Neven, which has received funds for enhancing its production.

Susanne Grossmann of the SECO Starup Fund said for Tanjug that Serbia was very well positioned within their financing system and that, regardless of the event's small capacities at the moment, the number of businessmen from Serbia who had visited it was impressive.

– Serbia is very well positioned in our financing system and we have around 30 companies in Serbia utilizing our funds, and there are also 11 active loans to Serbian companies, worth EUR 4.2 million, at the moment – Grossmann says.

The Pan-Serbian Summit, organized for the second year in a row, is a project meant to bring together businessmen, business associations and artists from Serbia and the diaspora, and this year's event is organized under the patronage of the City of Loznica.

Privredna komora Srbije

SECO Startup Fund

Swiss investments in Serbia

Serbia Switzerland business forum

Pan Serbian Summit Dietikon

CCIS

Aleksandar Radovanovic

Susanne Grossmann