IN THIS ISSUE: ICT Industry in Serbia and Macedonia SEE Perspective MORE THAN ANALYTICS BSN South East Europe Business magazine in English. Year 2. FEATURED TOPIC: Founding of the railway cluster in SEE N.05 03 /2015 01 SEE Perspective N.05 02 SEE Perspective N.05 Don Vicencio Juan de Lastanoza spoke back in realistic hope on future intensifying of interregional co- Middle ages: „do not expect more than necessary“. Fur- operation in the railway sector through the announce- thermore, he spoke that „it is easy to imagine perfec- ment of the formation of the railway cluster in SEE in tion, but hard to achieve it“. This introduction refers to November 2015. Finally. the management of the national railway companies in In light of improved regional cooperatio one can Southeastern Europe that are all in very bad state. These also observe the recent visit of the regional business people dream of their association Business railways as ultramod- Support Network ern and fondly look back (BSN) to Macedoni- to the „good old days“ an Chamber of Com- during the 20th centu- merce in Skopje. On ry, when the locomo- that occasion the two tives reached speeds organisations signed of over 100 km/h. In a cooperation agree- the current time of liberal capitalism, they reached the ment, and in the autumn the business delegation from speeds of 30 km/h. Lastanoza says that hope is, in fact, Serbia will visit their Macedonian collegues in Skopje. the forger of truth. Even though the people of the Bal- In this issue you can also read how the ICT industry kans often say that “hope dies last”. Instead of having is developing in Serbia and Macedonia. IT experts from the those managers and politicians of the countries in the west woulld be interested to know how many good and SEE region, who are responsible for the development high-quality small- and medium-sized IT companies can be and modernisation of railway system, focus on cooper- found in SEE countries. Many companies in this sector from ation, their eyes are constantly turned toward Brussels. Serbia are already present with their quality services on the They harbour the false hope that Brussels and the EU EU markets. Instead of „chasing“ after the IT experts in In- will solve their numerous railway problems. And that is dia, western Europe can find much higher quality experts in impossible, as the current financial need is measured in its neighbourhood, where the differences in corporate cul- hundreds of billions of EUR. ture and mentality are much lower. Yes, we are speaking of That is why the main topic of this issue is railways the Balkans. in the SEE region. Authors have tried to openly point out Despite the nummerous problems (and which the problems of the railway sector in this region, which country doesn’t have them today?) the market of Bosnia is one of the most important pillars of European passen- and Hercegovina can be interesting for the foreign inves- ger and cargo transfer, and through that a backbone of tors for many reasons. Read this issue and find out why. European economy. This topic also brings our readers a We wish you a pleseant read of our fifth issue. BSN Team IMPRESSUM Editors: Business Support Network (BSN) Translation & Advertising: Marko Radović Design & Layout: Mediavuk d.o.o | www.mediavuk.com Contibutors: Andrijana Stefanovski, Aleksandar Šupica, Dragoljub Rajić, Lela Ignjatović, Marko Radović, Milan Vučković and Miodrag K. Skulić Publisher: Business Support Network / Mreža za poslovnu podršku (BSN) | Strumička 100, SRB | 03 11050 Beograd | www.bsn.rs | E-mail: [email protected] | PIB: 108639092 | MB: 28151829 SEE Perspective N.05 March CONTENT 2015 SEE Perspective 06-16 FACTORY NEWS FEATURED TOPIC 17-22 SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE RAILWAYS 24 NATIONAL RAILWAYS IN SEE REGION 25 RAILWAY SERBIA (“ŽELEZNICE SRBIJE”) TO BE REFORMED IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS 26 Railway companies OF SOUTH-East EU- ROPE SIGNED COOPERatiON PROTOCOL 27-28 FIRST MEETING OF BSN MEMBERS AND FRIENDS BOSNIA AND HERZegoVINA 29-30 GOOD PLACE TO DO BUSINESS AND ENJOY LIFE CROATIA 31-32 THE “DOING BUSINESS IN Croatia: PROGRESS AND NEW CHALLENGES” CONFERENCE HELD IN ZAGREB 04 SEE Perspective N.05 33 BUSINESS SUPPORT NETWORK MEETS WITH MACEDONIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE IN SKOPJE 34-35 ICT industry IN SERBIA 36-37 ICT INDUSTRY IN MACEDONIA Macedonia: Information AND Communications Technology 39 BAD Law ON Accounting causes collapse IN THE economic system OF SERBIA 40 Cooperation OF HR managers IN SERBIA 42 CORPORATE CULTURE 43 FAIRS IN THE SEE REGION, MARCH AND APRIL 2015 05 SEE Perspective N.05 FACTORY NEWS FOR MARCH 2015: SERBIA Only 1,700 Serbian companies have stable exports Swiss HSBC assists clients to hide millions Swiss branch of British HSBC bank assisted rich clients, including several from Serbia, to avoid taxes and hide milllions of USD. This information was presented by the consortium of research journalists and European media. The list of clients, based on the secret data of the Swiss HSBC bank, is dominated by Swiss residents, followed by French, British, Brazilian, Italian, Israeli and American citizens. According to the number of clients, Serbia is the Serbian exporters recorded a drop of exports of almost number 106 on the list, which includes residents of 200 40% when compared to 2008, and only 1,700 Serbian countries, with 38 clients hiding thier money in Swiss companies has stable exports, which is very low, keep- HSBC accounts. According to the total funds, with 46.6 ing in mind that Serbia has around 370,000 business million USD held in Swiss HBSC accounts, Serbia is 121 subjects, consultant of the Buisness Support Network on the list. Dragoljub Rajic said to the Tanjug news agency. In these From the other countries in the region, according conditions it is very difficult for the domestic companies to the number of clients, Croatia is 107 on the list, Mac- to survive, maintain their level of operations and em- edonia 156, Bosnia and Hercegovina 164, Albania 194, ployment and avoid bankruptcy. Montenegro 132, and Slovenia 146. Crisiss forced the companies to expand their cli- ents list, to work with as many partners as possible, in order to survive in these difficult conditions – Rajic said. Serbia’s public debt 70.9% of GDP Adding that the business environment has to be changed at the end of 2014 in Serbia, and that the reforms have to be swift, Tanjug’s interviewee noted that a number of business-related Serbia’s public debt at the end of 2014 was 22.76 billion laws have to be changed. EUR, which is 70.9% of GDP, Ministry of Finance stated Certain regulations pose barriers for doing busi- on Friday, 30th of January. When compared to november ness, force high costs and bureacratize work of compa- 2014, public debt increased by approximately 480 million nies and that is what needs to change as soon as possi- EUR. At the end of 2013, Serbia’s public debt was 20.14 ble, he said. billion EUR, that is 59.6% of the GDP. Public debt at the end We cannot wait anymore for the years to pass, as of 2000 was 14.17 billion EUR, which was 201.2% of the the economic data show us at the bottom of the ladder GDP. Since then, the lowest public debt was recorded in in the region, he noted. According to him, today Serbia is 2008, 8.78 billion EUR, or 28.3% of the GDP. competing with Macedonia and Albania, with Macedonia Law on Budgetary System limits the public debt to having a better business environment, which will soon GDP ratio to 45%. provide results. 06 SEE Perspective N.05 cause, as announced, production should start in April. „Danube Foods Group“ sold The investment of the Finnish company in Priboj-based car factory should be implemented through the forma- tion of joint venture. Before that, Serbia first needs to is- sue a tender, and FAP’s return to the economic life of our country should also affect the gross domestic product and lead to an increase in the living standard of people in “Mid Europa Partners”, the biggest investment fund that Priboj and its surroundings. specializes in investments in central and eastern Europe, According to the latest official data available, FAP announced at the beginning of February it had signed an employs 1.108 workers. The company’s loss in 2013 ex- agreement to take over companies Danube Foods Group ceeded RSD 1.6 billion, while the whole system, with all BV and Clates Holding BV (which are merged into Dan- subsidiaries, employing a total of 1,444 people, made a ube Foods Group), the owners of Serbian companies and loss of 2.14 billion dinars in 2013. Brands “Imlek”, “Mlekara Subotica”, “Bambi” and “Knjaz Mi- loš”, as well as all Imlek-owned dairies in Macedonia, Re- public of Srpska and Montenegro. “Danube Foods Group” Serbia at the bottom of European health announced that the company had been sold to the invest- protection index ment fund “Mid Europa Partners” for EUR 575 million. With a turnover of over EUR 400 million in 2014, In Brussels the research of the European Health Con- Danube Foods Group is the Serbian and regional leader sumer Index for 2014 has been presented today where in the field of milk and dairy products, confectioneries, Serbia has still been at the bottom of the European lad- mineral water and energy drinks. The group exports its ders when it comes to health protection quality, ranking products to the market of Western Europe as well.