According to the agreement from Washington, the President of the Board of AmCham in Serbia expects the first effects of the arrival of the American Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in Serbia and the opening of its office in Belgrade next year. Some money is already there but what is DFC investing in?
The President of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia, Zoran Petrovic, says that it is very good that the office will be in Belgrade, because that means that America sees Belgrade as the center of the region.
“It is always good when such an important economy as the US economy, since that development bank is owned by the American government, comes somewhere and when they stick their flag there,” Zoran Petrovic estimates.
He adds that it is important for the entire region, that potential investors can more easily get information about what is happening in the region in which they would invest, what are the risks of political events, changes in foreign exchange rates and the like.
According to him, it is very important for our entrepreneurs that these are good sources of financing and longer-term financing with more favorable conditions.
Petrovic states that this is a corporation that invests in various projects, starting with energy, infrastructure, agriculture, helps the development of small and medium enterprises, all by keeping the private sector.
They also support projects in the field of public health, education, women’s entrepreneurship, then the production of energy from renewable sources, using solar energy, biomass and the like.
In all this, he points out, they adhere to high standards when it comes to environmental protection, respect for human and workers’ rights.
Petrovic believes that these standards will not, as there are fears, negatively affect the speed and the realization of specific projects in general.
“Even now, we have a situation where most of the Western institutions that provide either credit or other business support here, emphasize energy efficiency and adherence to the highest environmental standards as one of the conditions,” says Petrovic.
He estimates that it is very good, because people in our country also want to drink clean water, breathe clean air, and that taking care of the environment can be considered a good way when financing projects.
High standards, says Petrovic, may slow things down a bit, make them a little more complicated, but they will give a good result.
A bigger problem than that may be whether we will have appropriate projects, whether there will be enough of them and whether they will meet the necessary standards, Mondo reports.
