March 26 (SeeNews) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed an advisory agreement with the Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) to help the country in the areas of investment policy, reform and promotion, it said on Thursday.
IFC will support the agency implement economy-level investment policy reforms to improve the country's investment competitiveness and help promote Serbia as an attractive destination for investors through an investment outreach campaign, the IFC said in a statement.
"The number of investors willing to enter the Serbian market is increasing. This project will help further develop RAS’s capabilities to attract the right kind of investment that will generate high-quality jobs in Serbia," the director of RAS, Rados Gazdic, said.
The advisory project will run until the end of 2020 and is part of a programme implemented by IFC in partnership with the European Union to encourage investment and cross-border trade in the Western Balkans and Southeastern Europe. The initiative complements a 2.5 million euro ($2.7 million) programme to prepare the economies of the Western Balkans for EU accession and to support economic development in Southeastern Europe, IFC said.
"IFC is always ready to support our partner countries in their efforts to attract investors, better connect with neighboring countries, and improve the overall environment for commerce and business," IFC regional manager for Central and Southeast Europe, Thomas Lubeck, said in the statement.
Foreign direct investment inflows into Serbia have grown since 2012, touching 3.5 billion euro in 2019. Going forward, Serbia will need to increasingly attract higher-quality investments that help boost productivity and sustain economic growth levels, IFC noted.
($ = 0.911241 euro)