Vucic meets Japanese business officials

BELGRADE - Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic met in Belgrade on Wednesday with officials from the Japanese business organisation Keidanren to discuss the possibilities of their investing in Serbia.

Keidanren represents 1,300 of the largest Japanese companies and 112 business associations.

Vucic welcomed the Japanese delegation and stressed that the Serbian government was aware of the fact that Japanese companies wanted to establish more and better ties with Serbia, and he thanked the Japanese people and their government for their great assistance to Serbia afterthis year's floods, the Serbian government office for media relations has stated.

Japan is the second largest donor to Serbia.

The prime minister informed the Keidanred officials about reforms in the country, which are meant to improve the investment environment.

"The fact that Serbia is on the path to the EU, but that it is also the only country that has free trade agreements with the EU, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey, makes it a good destination for foreign companies," Vucic stated, adding that Serbia was prepared to offer the best investment conditions to Japanese companies.

Head of the Keidanren Committee on Europe Yoshio Sato underscored that Japan wanted Serbia to be a factor of stability and to develop economically.

The two countries are linked by 130 years of diplomatic relations, and economic relations have to be better in the future. Japan contributes to the economic growth of the countries it cooperates with and it is interested in investing in Serbia," Sato noted.

The Japanese delegation showed interest in investments in the food, automotive and electric industries.

The Serbian government is...