On 24 April in Belgrade, AmCham Serbia organised “Regional Economic Cooperation – Open Balkan: What can businesses expect?”, a conference dedicated to economic cooperation in countries participating in the Open Balkans initiative.
The event was opened by Christopher Hill, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia, together with Stefan Lazarević, President of AmCham Serbia, and Amalija Pavić, AmCham Serbia Deputy Director.
Our Partner Maja Jovančević Šetka moderated the panel ”Free Movement of Capital” and presented the results of the regulatory analysis “Overview of Restrictions on the Free Flow of Capital in the Open Balkan Countries”. The analysis was prepared by Karanovic & Partners for all three countries members of Open Balkan – Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania, in cooperation with our colleagues from the region. The speakers were Ognjen Popović, Assistant Minister in the Financial System Sector, Ministry of Finance, Stefan Kovačević, General Manager of the Department for Foreign Exchange Matters and Foreign Credit Relations, and Nenad Petrović, Deputy General Manager of the Payment System Department at the National Bank of Serbia, as well as Dragana Stanojević, Team Leader at USAID Catalyze EoG Project.
The ministerial panel addressed the positive results of the Open Balkan initiative. The speakers, Tomislav Momirović, Minister of Internal and Foreign Trade, and Tanja Miščević, Minister of European Integrations, pointed out the positive results of the Open Balkan initiative for the Serbian economy, regional relations, and EU integration.
The aim of the conference was to discuss the current achievements and potential further improvements in economic cooperation in the region in the four freedoms governing the movement of goods, persons, services, and capital. A special focus was on the possible modalities for improving the freedom of movement of capital within the region, in which respect no concrete measures have been taken so far within this initiative.
The discussion also gave an overview of the implementation of international agreements signed within the framework of the Open Balkan initiative, mostly concerning the movement of goods and, to a limited extent, people and services, as well as the expectations of the private sector for further improvement of economic exchange in the Balkans. The well-attended event reaffirmed that Open Balkan enjoys strong political and private sector support and, based on the surveys conducted by AmCham prior to the conference, the business community expects to benefit from boosting regional economic integrations.
Partner refers to Independent Attorney at Law in cooperation with Karanović & Partners.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general informational purposes only.
