Konrad: The interest of German companies in Serbia is still great, the Berlin process will continue for a long time

The interest of German companies in investing in Serbia is still great, the companies themselves decide where to invest, according to the most favorable conditions for investment, and the government does not influence it, says German Ambassador to Serbia Anke Konrad, RTV reports.

"We are happy that many companies from Germany have discovered Serbia as a place for investments. The framework for investments includes many things, the rule of law, the fight against corruption, many factors that influence the investment decision," Konrad said in an interview for Tanjug.

When asked whether economic cooperation with Germany, which is the largest investor in Serbia and in whose factories a large number of people are employed, can be threatened by political circumstances, primarily conditioned by sanctions on Russia, and whether German companies are still interested, given the crisis , to invest in Serbia, she replies: "I am not aware of any intention to impose sanctions on Russia, so that question does not arise".

As she stated, investments are planned for the long term, and the corona virus pandemic opened the question of whether, due to problems in the supply chain, production from some distant countries should be moved closer and therefore to Serbia.

As for the statement that it seems that with the arrival of the new German government, Berlin's interest in the Western Balkans has also increased, the ambassador says that she does not fully agree with such an assessment, because, she states, there has always been interest, recalling the Berlin process, which began in 2014. 

"There is no 'after' the Berlin process, because it continues. Next year we are expecting the Summit in Albania. And in 2014, a framework was created for the engagement that already existed, for the entire region, precisely through the Berlin process, so that everyone could focus on topics such as youth cooperation, free roaming. Our goal is to bring the states of the region closer to each other," Konrad said.

She reminds that the agenda of the Summit in Berlin at the beginning of the month included important topics such as energy, the green agenda, and energy security, everything that is important for the entire region, and says that the Berlin process will continue for a long time.

"In the meantime, that process has become an excellent framework for cooperation between the countries of the region, as well as with international organizations," she added.

In this light, she also sees the effects of the Berlin Summit, stating that the goal is to achieve a unified economic space and that with the three signed agreements, the framework for that has been created.

"That is the path and we hope that we will be able to sign new agreements in a similar way on the following topics, which would be valid for all partners in the Western Balkans," Konrad said, adding that the Berlin process is something much broader than "a meeting once a year in the capital city".
Konrad expects the Berlin process to last for a long time.