Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic opened Business forum of Serbia and Austria in Vienna today, which gathered over 50 businessmen from Serbia and over 100 businessmen from Austria.

President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Zeljko Sertic and his Austrian counterpart Christoph Lytle signed the Agreement on cooperation of the chambers of commerce, which provides for expansion of cooperation between businessmen of the two countries in all fields.

Opening of the forum Ljajic invited Austrian businessmen to continue to invest in Serbia because there is a great potential, given that Austria is the biggest investor in our country, with more than €3 billion direct investment and is one of the most important trade partners.

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that so far the biggest investment of Austria in our country was in the service sector, adding that there is space for new Austrian investments in the automotive industry, metal industry, food, furniture, and pharmaceuticals.

Lytle said that Austria will continue with the full support of Serbia’s accession to the EU, and that after Serbia gets a date for the start of negotiations, Austria will try to facilitate easier access to European funds for Serbian businesses through joint projects.

Ljajic also met with general director of Telekom Austria Hannes Ametsreiter, who expressed satisfaction with the operations in Serbia, and noted that it is an example of good practice in cooperation between state institutions and foreign investors in Serbia.