President addresses regional gathering

President addresses regional gathering

"Serbia has maintained and rebuilt old friendships, created new ones and cleared any misunderstandings it had with other countries," he said at a plenary meeting on Monday entitled Agreement for the New Age: Leaders of the Brdo-Brijuni Process.

Serbia needs investments, he said, adding that it had free trade agreements with many countries of the world that the EU members did not have access to, but also some countries that were not members.

"It is a development opportunity for Serbia," Nikolic remarked.

"On our own, we do not have a product for markets that seek good products and large quantities," he noted, adding that it could only be provided by everyone together.

Agriculture is an export and development opportunity for all the countries of the region and it requires investment and better organisation, the president said.

"We will not get far with small and fragmented production," he pointed out and called on the participants of the meeting to work together.

Croatian President Ivo Josipović said the region was behind many of the EU countries, even their average, and that it was a common task to meet the high standards of the EU.

"It is obvious we are struggling with it, with inherited weaknesses that we do not remove, but there also political reasons sometimes for why we do not take the necessary steps. The fact that we have compatible economies opens up possibilities that would not be there without cooperation," he stated.

Energy, food industry and agriculture are the fields in which it is possible to be more successful by taking advantage of shared experiences, he believes. However, Josipović says there are political agendas that trat cooperation between businesses as something bad, and it should be stated clearly that they harm their economies in doing so.

Head of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Bakir Izetbegović said capital sought stability and security. "We have to guarantee political stability and security of investments," he stressed, adding that it was necessary to attract foreign capital, but that it required better infrastructure as well.

Bosnia-Herzegovina uses 35 percent of its hydro potential and even less when it comes to thermal potential, Izetbegović stated.

"Bosnia-Herzegovina alone, with its rivers and coal deposits, can meet the region's needs for a lengthy period of time," he pointed out.

Representatives of the business community used short presentations to inform the presidents of the region's countries about their joint opinions regarding the problems and possibilities for cooperation in the food, beverage and energy industries.

The business community also reviewed the situation in tourism, transport and logistics, construction, healthcare and pharmacy, ICT and services.

Organizers presented a survey that showed the people of the region made up five percent of the EU's population, but accounted for one percent of the European GDP.