The Investment and Business Conference for the Diaspora was held in Vienna on the last day of September, aiming to encourage investments in Serbia by Serb business diaspora from Austria. The conference presented new mechanisms of cooperation with the diaspora: Diaspora Business Hub and the online platform Business Atlas of Serbia and Diaspora (https://dijaspora.pks.rs), which will facilitate providing information and assistance to the diaspora both digitally and in person.

The conference was organized by the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Link Up! Serbia II project financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) with the funds of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and implemented by the international organization International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

The conference was attended by about 150 participants, mostly members of the business diaspora in Austria and their potential partners from Serbia. The speakers in the ceremonial part were: Richard Bandera, regional manager for Southeast Europe at the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce; Tamer Kılıç, head of region for Western Balkans and Turkey at ICMPD; Mihajilo Dašić, assistant minister at the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia; Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, secretary general at the Federal Ministry for European and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria; His Excellency Ambassador Friedrich Stift, director of ADA; Mihailo Vesović, director of the Strategic Analyses, Services and Internationalization Division at the SCC; and Mrs. Elvina Quaison, expert for cooperation with the business diaspora at the ICMPD mission in Brussels. Other participants included representatives of the institutions of the Republic of Serbia, such as the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, regional development agencies (RARIS, REDASP, CRJP) and 4 local self-governments (including Negotin and Kladovo).

The first working part presented 30 investment opportunities developed within the project by the SCC and 3 regional development agencies. The diaspora expressed interest in 6 initial investment opportunities (from a hotel on Lake Vlasina to a sheep farm in Braničevo), while others expressed interest in receiving future newly created investment opportunities in order to choose the best business proposals for themselves.

The second working part included presentations of 10 Serbian companies that have already found business partners in Austria with and through the diaspora within the project, and a discussion about the potential for finding partners for the 12 present companies that had already sent inquiries before the conference. After the conference, the project team will continue to link companies from Serbia and the diaspora in Austria.

In the third part of the conference, a dedicated panel on female entrepreneurship discussed the potential and opportunities for business links between female entrepreneurs from Serbia and the diaspora. This panel yielded a special resonance and results after the conference both in the diaspora and among female entrepreneurs in Serbia.

On the following day, 1 October, the Diaspora Business Days of Negotin and Kladovo municipalities were held at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Vienna. The Diaspora Days were an opportunity to establish concrete cooperation with our diaspora in Austria. The hosts of these two events were His Excellency Ambassador Nebojša Rodić, Negotin municipality representatives: Bogdan Gugić, deputy president of the municipality, and Slađana Stojanović, head of the Department for Social Affairs, Business and Economic Development, and Kladovo municipality administration members: Bojan Božanović, deputy president, and Slavoljub Maletić, assistant to the president of the municipality of Kladovo. The event was sponsored by the Link Up! Serbia II project implemented by ICMPD.

This event was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Serbian Chamber of Commerce, representatives of ICMPD, Eastern Serbia Regional Development Agency, and members of our diaspora living and working in Vienna and interested in investing in their homeland. Jovica Stanojević from the European Association of Friends of Urovica, Saša Božinović, vice president of the Stevan Mokranjac Serbian Cultural Center in Vienna, and Aleksandar Saša Stanković, president of the cultural and sports society Bambi from Vienna, participated as guests of honor in the part dedicated to the municipality of Negotin.

Representatives of the local self-governments of Negotin and Kladovo presented the investment potential of their municipalities and listened to our people temporarily working abroad.

During the event, discussions were held with investors from the diaspora about their business initiatives towards their homeland, challenges in investing and potentials to overcome them in cooperation with municipalities, as well as the potential for wider diaspora investment in their homeland. The goal is to secure and support 10 diaspora investments in these two places in Eastern Serbia in the first year.

– As we heard at the Diaspora Business Days, there is interest in all areas, including business, agriculture, tourism and numerous new opportunities that will arise with the opening of the Chemical Park in Elixir Prahovo, said Bogdan Gugić, deputy president of the municipality of Negotin.

‘Kladovo is on the right track of tourism development, and the state has recognized it as an important tourist destination in Eastern Serbia. The meeting with the diaspora is an experience that we will improve, and we will try to organize even more successful meetings in Kladovo in the coming period’, said Bojan Božanović, deputy president of the municipality of Kladovo.

Source and photo: ZAVIČAJ narodne novine