Setting up of Japanese Business Club "encourages investors"

Setting up of Japanese Business Club "encourages investors"

"There are currently 47 Japanese companies in Serbia, which is relatively few compared to other countries, like Croatia, Romania and Hungary," he said on Tuesday.

Two of those 47 companies are big investors, Japan Tobacco and Panasonic, he pointed out.

Trade between Serbia and Japan in 2013 was just USD 130 million and it will be even less this year, because it currently stands at USD 96 million, he noted.

Serbia's export to Japan reached a record value last year, and it was at just USD 6.3 million, with 53 percent of it being agricultural produce and food, Ljajic stated.

There are only 13 Japanese companies in the JBC at the moment, but the organization can attract new investors, he said, adding that it was the reason why Serbia should advertise itself as a good investment destination and production location.

"Most Japanese companies, unfortunately, see Serbia mostly as a good market and a place from which to access other markets of the region," he said.

The best fields for cooperation with Japan are the automotive, electronic, IT and tourism industries, he believes.

He suggested that Japanese business community should reopen its foreign trade office in Belgrade.

Japanese Ambassador Masafumi Kuroki said the JBC had been created in order to coordinate better with the Serbian government, adding that two issues were at the top of the list for the Japanese companies in Serbia, the transparency of public procurement and protection of competition.

The task of the JBC is to build a better investment environment with fair conditions for all participants, Kuroki stated.

The JBC recommends that the Belgrade authorities should improve free access to the market by harmonizing laws on protection of competition and public procurement with EU standards, head of JBC Goran pekez said.

The JBc recommends also that the Commission for Protection of Competition and Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement be granted more authority so they could act pre-emptively, before the invitations for tenders are announced, he added.