The First Roundtable with the Government of Serbia
„Competitiveness of the Serbian Economy - challenges and opportunities"
The First Roundtable with the Government of Serbia in cooperation with CIPE named „Competitiveness of the Serbian Economy - challenges and opportunities" was held in Belgrade, in the Hyatt hotel, on October 20th, 2008.
The Roundtable gathered around 100 participants: policy activists, representatives from the business community, academia, NGO representatives, representatives of diplomatic corps, media, etc.
The meeting was opened by Mr. Slobodan Vučićević, the President of the Serbian Association of Managers. After him a short speech was given by Mrs. Jelena Galic, the Vice President of the Association. Moderator was Professor Nikola Fabris, from University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics.
The Roundtable started with an introductory speech given by Professor Mihajlo Crnobrnja, Director of FEFA Institute. Mr. Crnobrnja's introductory speech was directed on what can or what should be done in order to improve Serbia's competitiveness. He raised lot of questions about responsibility of business community, education system as well as government in the near future, in order to improve Serbia internal and external competitive position. Next speech was given by Mr. Slobodan Milosavljević, Minister of Trade and Services. He presented the Government strategy and policy in this area. After him, Mr. Goran Radosavljevic, Advisor of the Deputy Prime Minister, provided information regarding the international ranking of Serbia in the field of competitiveness according to the Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Doing Business Report by the World Bank and Transition Report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
After these introductory speeches, the dialogue was opened and a number of issues were raised by SAM members.
The Roundtable had broad media coverage during and in the days after the event and attracted great attention due to the fact that the Minister Slobodan Milosavljević announced that the public discussion regarding the draft Law on the protection of competitiveness would start in November this year.