Bjelic: The Summit in London is an indicator of how interested foreign investors are in the Western Balkans

The Western Balkans Investment Summit 2024, which will take place in London on Monday, will be an indicator of how interested foreign investors are in Serbia and the region, Predrag Bjelic, a professor of international trade at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, says in an interview with Kosovo Online.

"This is a summit organized by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), where funds from interested investors are raised. These can be international organizations, states... and it all depends on where they want to allocate funds and how much they want to invest. These would be additional funds compared to the six billion euros that the EU allocates through the Growth Plan. These funds are usually intended for individual countries, but it rarely happens that they are allocated for joint projects," Bjelic says.

He explains that joint projects are more financed by the EU and they aim to create some regional, cross-border cooperation. Whether the Western Balkan countries will appear in London as competitors or with some joint projects depends on the countries themselves.

"If the countries have secured some projects, as they must have some project proposals if they have some joint projects, then they can present themselves that way. However, as far as I know, in these presentations, countries always have their own national projects that they offer to investors to invest in, so it depends on the countries' approach," our interlocutor notes, comparing the London Summit to CEFTA projects.

"When investors consider where to invest within CEFTA, Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia are somewhat competitors because they choose a location that will serve the entire CEFTA," he assesses.

Bjelic explains that regional cooperation is encouraged to calm the political and economic situation in the region and that these projects are therefore very important. However, he believes it is a "very difficult task."

"When you have some kind of cooperation, trade, investment, when there is economic prosperity, radical moves are not considered. At this moment, we must admit, there is a political and economic crisis in the world, inflation is high, which means global exports are stagnating to some extent, and then most countries are facing, let's say, a recession, and any additional financial resources are significant to stimulate development. That's why I think these projects that unite the entire region are particularly important. However, the EU in the Growth Plan has an ambitious agenda to stimulate regional cooperation and through it to allow countries to connect with the European Union. So when they agree on something, and the region implements it, then it will be able to join the EU's common market, and in my opinion, that is a very difficult task, we will see how it will be fulfilled in the future," Bjelic says, explaining that the EU has set "some very strict requirements" in the Growth Plan.

"One of the requirements is that all countries immediately align with the common foreign and security policy, with the EU's visa policy... So if we engage in the common market in certain segments, it will mean that we apply EU regulations in that segment. I don't know how prepared the Western Balkan countries are to accept all these requirements," he notes.

Regarding what Serbia can expect from the summit in London, according to Bjelic, it depends on the quality of the projects presented.

"When there is a crisis in the world, that is an economic crisis, but it is also a crisis for investors because then they have reduced investment opportunities. And when investment opportunities open up somewhere, that is good for them. Now, the stability of the country and its political and economic position are also assessed, so this conference is also a litmus test, to see how committed investors are to this region and Serbia," Bjelic concludes.