Serbia will do everything to attract Swedish investment

Belgrade,  Feb. 24, 2010 (Source: serbiangov.rs) – Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Bozidar Djelic declared that Serbia will do everything to attract Swedish investment and that negotiations in bringing Swedish company Ikea to the Serbian market by 2011 are underway. After meeting with Swedish Minister of Trade Ewa Bjorling, on Monday Djelic announced that the plot of land to be allocated to Ikea currently belongs to the Institute for Animal Science and is located adjacent to Nikola Tesla airport. He disclosed that Sweden makes annual donations of €11 million to our country, but noted that trade between the two countries is still not at an optimum level. The Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the decisions made during the Swedish EU presidency in the second half of last year, which hold great importance for Serbia. These include the decision of the Council of EU Ministers to proceed with the implementation of the Interim Trade Agreement and the submission of Serbia's candidacy for membership in the EU. Bjorling said that she discussed Serbia’s further progress in the EU integration process and on ways to strengthen economic cooperation between Serbia and Sweden with Djelic. She said that they also discussed the simplification of administrative procedures relating to investment in the Serbian economy, as well as measures to control corruption. Referring to Serbia’s EU integration, Bjorling noted that Sweden supports the EU enlargement process and Serbia’s eventual accession to the EU. Djelic and Bjorling also met with representatives of Belgrade and Nis and discussed ways of resolving ecological problems in Serbia. These related chiefly to problems caused by waste water. They also discussed issues relating to the energy sector.