Chamber of Commerce of Serbia and Belgrade to host Western Balkans Business and Chamber Forum on October 7

The Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS), in cooperation with the Western Balkans Chamber Investment Forum and the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Serbia, is organizing the Western Balkans Business and Chamber Forum as part of the Berlin Process on October 7 in Belgrade.

As announced by the CCIS, the goal of the gathering is to bring together companies and businessmen from the region to discuss the creation of a common market for the Western Balkans, the potential and challenges of that process, as well as accession to the EU single market.

– We will try to examine through dialogue all the possibilities and advantages of creating a single regional market for the Western Balkans of 18 million inhabitants, as well as the obstacles that companies face – said Nenad Djurdjevic, advisor to the President of the CCIS.

Access to EU single market

He stressed that the forum would also discuss access to the European Union single market and also discuss the challenges that the business communities of the Western Balkans were facing on that path and how chambers of commerce could help to remove obstacles.

The CCIS, in cooperation with an expert from the United Kingdom, has prepared an overview of the current situation in which companies in the region operate, highlighting the sectors with the greatest potential for growth and development in the EU single market.

According to the organizers, a proposal for recommendations for improving the functioning of the common market in the region and a proposal for policies that would enable easier access for EU companies have also been prepared.

– These will be the topics of the forum in Belgrade. After the forum, we hope to have a coordinated document with representatives of the business community intended for the ministers of economy who will gather at the ministerial meeting in London on October 17, 2025, as part of the United Kingdom’s chairmanship of the Berlin Process – emphasized Djurdjevic.

Intensifying cooperation

The Berlin Process, as Djurdjevic reminded, is an initiative of the Federal Republic of Germany and former Chancellor Angela Merkel, launched in 2014, with the idea of connecting societies in the Western Balkans, but also preparing the region’s economy for EU membership through deepening regional cooperation.

For the CCIS, as Djurdjevic emphasizes, any intensification of cooperation in political and economic terms that would lead to the removal of barriers and obstacles to the creation of a single market in the Western Balkans is important.

– The starting assumption is that countries, before qualifying for EU membership, primarily in the economic sector, should be strengthened and competitive in the single market of the Western Balkans that would function according to the rules of the European Union. After 11 years, unfortunately, we are witnessing very little progress in that ambitious plan – emphasized the advisor to the President of the CCIS.

According to him, the CCIS has been very active in that process all the time.

– We have also called on the governments of the region, international institutions, the EU, to pay attention to the position of companies and all the problems that companies have in doing business in the Western Balkans. We still believe that this process can be strengthened as a prerequisite, as an initial and hopefully the final step towards full membership in the EU, for which many of our companies are ready – said Djurdjevic.

Privredna komora Srbije

CCIS

Western Balkans Chamber Investment Forum

Nenad Đurđević

single market