Lazarević: Our future lies in investing in startups

Published on November 19, 2013.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications Stefan Lazarević stated today that the future of economic growth lies in investing in startups, investment funds and that removing all regulatory obstacles is key to facilitate the daily business operations of companies in Serbia.

At the largest investment forum in the Balkans “Belgrade Venture Forum”, which was opened today in Belgrade, Lazarević said that the fact that the state has become aware of the importance of entrepreneurship and started separating funds for startups is very important.

“The aim is to eliminate some of the regulatory obstacles that exist in the daily business operations in Serbia, in order to further facilitate the business of companies in Serbia”, said Lazarević.

He added that this does not apply only to large multinational companies, which draw large investments rather that it is important to invest in small companies.

Speaking about the obstacles in business, Lazarević said that the greatest obstacles are in the field of financial operations. He said that the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications initiated amendments to the law on electronic commerce, and aligned it with the EU regulations in order to improve and facilitate the operations of companies.

Lazarević noted that it is very important that, starting from next year, we will be able to file our tax returns electronically, adding that the key to electronic business is the adoption of the law on payment services which would allow payment via mobile phones. According to him, there are efforts in Serbia to improve regulations in the field of IT, which is part of the development of the economic sector.

He added that the arrival of PayPal to Serbia is of great importance, and that progress was made in the digitalization process.

The two-day “Belgrade Venture Forum”, at the “Metropol” Hotel, brought together more than 50 speakers from 15 countries; also, examples of best practices of successful European regions, such as Flanders and the Basque Country will be presented.