African states invite companies from Serbia to invest

The Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and the Serbian-African Investment Forum (SAIF) organized a business and investment gathering today, from which an message was sent to Serbian businessmen to invest more in Africa.

The forum brought together around 100 participants from the Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe and other African countries, as well as over 30 companies from Serbia, but also companies from East Europe. The guests from Africa said that “investments in Africa have a better perspective than those in the West, where it is much riskier to invest”.

The business-investment forum of the SAIF was organized to the end of presenting the possibilities of enhancing joint activities and strengthening economic ties of Serbia and the regional countries with South Africa and the African Union.

Consultant to the president of the CCIS, Miroslav Miletic, said that the cooperation initiative had originated during the working visit of the president of the CCIS, Marko Cadez, to the Republic of South Africa in June 2017. He said that the total trade between Serbia and South Africa had amounted to nearly USD 17 million in 2016. On the list of Serbia's most important foreign trade partners, South Africa placed 84th in export and 65th in import last year.

– The positive balances in the past five years have been in favor of the Republic of South Africa, which is the result of the import of unsorted goods, fruit, stone, sand and granite – Miletic said.

In the first eight months of 2017, Serbia exported primarily cigarettes, paper, cardboard, transporters, machine components and tools, packing and wrapping machines, pneumatic tires, firearms and similar products, medical drugs and other products.

Miletic pointed out that there was room to increase the cooperation in nearly all fields, but that it was necessary to address problems regarding transport and remove customs and administrative procedures. He reminded that the Joint Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and South Africa had been founded in April 2017.

The president of the SAIF, Zarko Taric, said that there was great potential for cooperation with Africa and that South Africa was the gateway to a market of 1.1 billion people for Serbian businessmen. As he said, South Africa looked to connect with the entire Western Balkans region through Serbia, as cooperation and friendly relations between the two countries had already been established.

Taric pointed out that South Africa was one of the most developed countries in Africa in terms of infrastructure and that it had a developed financial system as well.

– We can learn a lot from the economy of South Africa, and Serbia is looking to stimulate an exchange of technologies in the sectors of IT, infrastructural, mechanical and other sectors, which will be the topic of the meetings to take place in the upcoming months – Taric said.

Secretary General of the SAIF, Zolani Mkiva, said that the forum had been founded in order to initiate projects beneficial to both regions.

– We want to incite the Balkans to invest in Africa, as the future lies in Africa – Mkiva said.

The SAIF gathering entailed B2B meetings between African and Serbian companies, and economic potentials of Serbia, the countries of the region and African countries were presented as well.

Privredna komora Srbije

Chamber of Commerce of Serbia

CCIS

Joint Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and South Africa

Serbian African Investment Forum

SAIF

African Union

Miroslav Miletic

import to Serbia

export from Serbia

export to the Republic of South Africa

export to Africa

merchandise trade between Serbia and South Africa

Zarko Taric

Zolani Mkiva