Serbia increasingly interesting destination for German investors - 88 percent of companies would choose our country again

Serbia as an investment destination would be chosen again by 88 percent of German companies operating in our country today, 37 percent of them plan to boost their investment, while 39 percent say an increase in manpower is one of their most important goals. These are only some of the results of a poll conducted by the German-Serbian Business Association among its members.

Despite the difficult economic environment, companies in our country, founded by German juristic persons, send positive signals about Serbia as an investment location in 2013. Most of these companies either say their business position in Serbia is good or say it's satisfactory.

At a recent presentation of poll results, German Ambassador to Serbia Heinz Wilhelm noted that the poll had been conducted in February, that is, prior to the signing of the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, meaning that the latest news about Serbia's convergence towards the European Union had no effect on poll results.

- We hope that the number of German investors here will grow bigger as Serbia comes closer to the EU. For Germany, Serbia is a key country in the Balkans in political sense, which also reflects on the economy. Germany is Serbia's largest foreign trade partner with their trade in 2012 standing at EUR 2.5 billion – said Wilhelm.

(Heinz Wilhelm)

The poll was conducted among 66 companies, that is, 25 percent of the members of the German-Serbian Business Association.

Dr. Ronald Seeliger, president of the German-Serbian Business Association and the director general of Hemofarm, was the one to present poll results.

- A total of 39 percent of the polled companies say the current state of their company is good, 55 percent say it's average, while only 6 percent claim their company is in a difficult economic situation. Similarly, 53 percent of those polled expect their business results to improve this year, whereas 39 percent believe that the position of their company will remain stable and unchanged in 2013. The remaining 8 percent of the polled companies expect the situation in 2013 to be worse than last year – said Seeliger.

Much more negative were the assessments of general economic situation in Serbia with 79 percent of those polled saying it's bad and only 21 percent of the polled companies having positive expectations for the business year 2013.

When it comes to new investments and hirings, the results of this year's poll are very positive. They show that the local labor market and investment activities are increasingly interesting for German companies in Serbia - 37 percent of companies plan to increase their investments in 2013, whereas 39 percent of them plan on hiring new workers.

Seelinger said that much more needed to be done in Serbia in order to improve economic situation, which is assessed negatively by 79 percent of the polled German companies.

(Michael Schmidt, Heinz Wilhelm, Ronald Seeliger)

Michael Schmidt, executive director of the German-Serbian Bussiness Association and the director of the German Business Delegation to Serbia, pointed out that polled companies assessed the labor market and the quality of staff in Serbia positively.

- Workers' qualifications and motivation are assessed positively, whereas their overall academic education and productivity, the availability of qualified workers and labor costs are said to be good – Schmidt said at the event.

He stressed that 88 percent of companies had answered affirmatively to the question of whether they would again choose Serbia as an investment destination.

- This puts Serbia back on the list of Germany's most favorite investment destinations in central and eastern Europe, right behind EU members Estonia, Poland and Lithuania. Based on the results of this poll, Serbia is placed much higher than some traditionally important markets for Germany, such as Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia - Schmidt explained.