Lidl is coming to Serbia by the end of 2014 - IKEA until November 2016

By the end of the year, Serbia will get Lidl’s retail shops and by the end of November 2016, it is expected that the first department store of Swedish IKEA will be finished, the state secretary at the ministry of foreign and internal trading and telecommunications, Vesna Kovacevic, said in Arandjelovac on Friday, October 10, 2014.

- Attracting big trade chains is important because they are connected with regional producers which increases their role – Kovacevic said at NIN Fokus, Regional investment summit.

Kovacevic reminded that IKEA’s arrival was announced as well as that they are planning to open a department store in Belgrade with 300 people by the end of November 2016.

- When the investment is over, IKEA is planning three department stores more – in Nis, Novi Sad and Serbia – she said that by the end it is expected that total value of their investment will be some EUR 300 m.

Their arrival, as she outlined, is important because it attracts other investors as well.

When it comes to telecommunications, she outlined that it must be big investment in knowledge and that the state should invest more funds in education of experts, reminding that investments in the plant of microchips was announced by UAE-based Mubadala.