Guide for investors Content The city of Leskovac, Vision........................................... 1 Serbia has the potential................................................ 2 Welcome to Leskovac................................................... 3 Region al leader in agriculture....................................... 4 Infrastructure............................................................... 5 Human resources......................................................... 6 Business environment................................................... 7 Estate rents prices and taxes......................................... 8 Industrial areas............................................................ 9 Map of the industrial areas............................................ 10 Greenfield potential...................................................... 11 Brownfield potential...................................................... 12 Tourism....................................................................... 13 They are recognized Leskovac....................................... 14 Developed Business...................................................... 15 The City of Leskovac Vision Local administration of the City Our goal is to provide to all the citizens equal chances for of Leskovac is committed to the dignified life. task of creating all the precon- ditions for economic develop- Economic development, equal prosperity of urban and rural ment and opening new invest- areas, infrastructure modernization, health centers, schools – ment cycle. This process will be all these are preconditions to bring back the old glaze to our enhanced by good municipal city. infrastructure. City of Leskovac is the first City of Leskovac can and must be more interesting and pleas- one in Serbia that applied the ant place for living. That is why together we can create attrac- regional management of sol- tive environment for investments and donations, for opening id waste by constructing the new jobs and establishing positive and healthy creative at- sanitary landfill in line with the mosphere. highest standards in the field of environmental protection. Our city has a water supply system “Barje”, too, which solved Our strategic goals: the problems of water supply throughout the region. Leskovac will also build a waste water treatment plant with To develop Leskovac as an economic, cultural, touristic and the support of partners from the European Union. This project regional center of South Serbia; creates preconditions to preserve and protect environment. We work very intensively on research of geothermal resources Efficient, business effective city administration with good in- in the Leskovac valley. This project should significantly help ternal and external communication; achieving the vision of the development of south Serbia as a region of green energy. It will also help that agriculture, as our Protect the environment us the imperative of sustainable eco- strategic priority, could brand the products from this region. nomic development; We strive to build efficient and modern administration with entrepreneurial role. Timely, comprehensive, high quality and continuous service in It is an important part of our vision- to create favorable busi- the field of social activities. ness environment in Leskovac. Welcome to Leskovac. We would like to invite You to come and make sure that Les- kovac is the place where You can… Mayor of Leskovac Slobodan Kocic 1 Serbia has the potential BY NUMEROUS benefits SERBIA wants to ENCOURAGE investors - 10% corporate profit tax. - Free trade agreements with Russia, Albania, Belorussia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova and Turks. - Imported equipment is exempted from custom duties and other import charges, except for motor vehicles and gambling machines. - 10 years tax relief for investment over 8 million EUR with creation of more than 100 new jobs. - 5 years tax relief for the investment over 80.000 EUR with creation of more than 5 new jobs in the underdeveloped region. - Profit earned on a basis of concession is tax free for period of 5 years. - Profit earned in Serbia can be freely transferred abroad. - In case of employing persons older than 50, the employer is freed from paying all the taxes and contributions on wages. - Foreigners temporarily residing in Serbia for more than two years, can import motor vehicles with out paying custom duties. - Various government subsidies and tax exemptions for creating new jobs. 2 Welcome to Leskovac City of Leskovac is among 5 most important cities in Serbia: • Number of inhabitants: 156.252 • Area: 1.025km2 • Work force: 92.869 – 59,4% of total -employed 26.914 -unemployed 20.922 • Average monthly salary: 279 EUR net • Gross Domestic Product: 1251 EUR per capita • City budget: 25 601.243 EUR • Five rivers: City of Leskovac as regional center of Southern Ser- bia will: Morava, Veternica, Jablanica, Pusta reka, Vlasina • Five mountains: • Create business friendly environment for Kukavica, Cemernik , Suva planina, Stara planina, foreign direct investments Radan • Enable economic development through support of new technologies, SMEs, • Pan-European corridor 10 (highway, railway) agriculture and healthy food production • Distance from international airports: • Develop institutional framework through capacity building of local institutions - Nis 45 km oriented on positive synergies of public private partnership - Sofia 150 km • Create equal opportunities for all citizens - Skopje 160km for good quality of life, living standard, - Belgrade 288 km education, health protection and housing - Thessaloniki 320 km • Promote entrepreneurial spirit in order to create new jobs • Enforce development activities to improve • Usage of area – 90% look of the city and living environment (agricultural land – 57.600ha and forest – 16.200ha) • Become an open society and pleasant • Natural resources place for living (soil, mineral and thermal water ,wood..) 3 Region al leader in agriculture The area of the Leskovac city is situated at the high from 210 to 240 above sea level and is located in the fertile basin, bordered by Babicka Gora , Selicevica and Suva planina to the East and Radan mountain and Pasjaca to the West and Kukavica mountain and Cemernik to the South. The city of Leskovac is located where natural communications with intersection of all directions leading to the valleys of the Juzna Morava, Veternica, Jablanica and Vlasina rivers flow in or out. In the south of Serbia, in the region known for its natural beauties, fresh air and clean cold water, there is a centuries long tradi- tion in small fruit and mushroom picking. Valley is suitable for agricultural production especially for vegetable production. Agricultural potential of the region provides op- portunities for investment in capacities for production of healthy food. Available natural recourse Plaugh land and 6% vegetable garden 6% Orchards 9% 64% Vineyards 15% Grassland Pastures Available human resources in agriculture Vegetable producers 1% 2% 6% Cattle beeders Tabaco processors 45% Veterinarians 46% Food producers 4 Infrastructure Transport infrastructure The road network of the city of Leskovac consists of 614 km of categorized roads. Since the total length of roads, 68% of roads are covered with modern road- way, of which belongs to the local road network 38.3% (152 kilometers). The state of road network is as follows: % of roads with modern Road class Length (km) Modern road surface surface Trunk roads 64 64 100 District 153 104 68 Local 397 152 38,3 Total: 614 320 52,1 Railway Belgrade-Nis-Skopje-Athens passes through the territory of the city. The number of passengers and goods loaded shows that Leskovac still not used sufficiently the advantages of their involvement in the railway system of the country, especially in terms of commodity transportation, and industrial area of Leskovac is not directly involved in the railway network over the ap- propriate number of industrial tracks. Water management infrastructure On the territory of the city there are five public water supplies, the total length of main feed is 87 km, 480 km of distribution network, with nearly 23,250 water connections, while the length of sewerage network is 125 km. On the territory of Leskovac are built twelve small reservoirs and 6 of them intended for irrigation and 6 to create solutions for chemical spraying of vineyards. 5 Human resources At the end of 2007, Leskovac was on the second place in Serbia by the absolute number of available workforce. Total number of unemployed people registered in the National labour market service was 20.922 Among that number, 14732 are medium skilled workers, 4907 low skilled workers and 567 high skilled with master degree. Total number of employees in the city of Leskovac is 26.914 in 2007. Enterprises, institutions, cooperatives and organizations count 20.733 employed persons. Private entre- preneurs and Independent activists employ 6181 persons. Educational infrastructure of the City of Leskovac consist of 24 primary schools, 12 secondary schools, 2 colleges (economical and technical sciences) and faculty of technology. 6 Business environment The City of Leskovac has developed institutional framework for local Size of the enterprises economic development. Local Economic 1% Development Agency offers business and legal support: 4% -Marketing and promotion Small -Business retention, expansion and attraction Big -Contacts and direct support local business 95% community -Strategic planning process support