PARTNER
INTERVIEW
SANJA IVANIĆ, CCIFS CEO
It is Important Our Members Know WE'RE ALWAYS HERE FOR THEM With good internal organisation, we've succeeded in being available to members at all times, and that will be the same in the future
overcome the newly emerged situation as easily as possible, through joint actions, initiatives and solutions. It is important members know that we’re always here for them,” says Ivanić.
E
ven prior to the declaring of a state of emergency in Serbia, we realised that the global health crisis would impact on the operations of our members and partners in Serbia. That’s why we reacted very quickly and took certain actions to forward requests to the Government and ministries to take into account the difficulties faced by companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, says Sanja Ivanić, CEO of the French-Serbian Chamber of Commerce (CCIFS). SMEs comprise a large percentage of CCIFS members, while they represent the backbone of the Serbian economy and it is vitally important for us to fight for the support of these companies and help them to overcome this difficult period. Our action of sending requests to the Minister of Finance was joined by twelve other bilateral associations in Serbia in a short period of time, because they recognised the importance of this initiative, says our interlocutor. “Under the slogan ‘How can we help you?’ we attempted during the pandemic to organise as many useful online conferences, webinars and club meetings as possible, in order to
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Which needs do members most often cite when addressing you today? - During the strongest wave of the Covid-19 virus, at the end of March and during April, our members contacted us with various inquiries, the majority of which were related to imports and exports, blockages at borders, tougher customs procedures at EU entry points and obtaining work permits for workers during the police curfew. At the moment members are very interested in whether there are certain restrictive entry and exit measures still in place between Serbia and EU member states, as well as imports and exports. Business meetings and networking are also an important part of our activities, and members ask us when they will be able to start holding meetings in the flesh. How has the rise in digital forms of communication impacted on the work of the CCIFS? Has it caused a change in your communication with members and regarding other Chamber activities? - Digitalisation has been a priority of French chambers of commerce abroad for several years now. The global platform that connects members was launched two years ago and is used by an increasing number of members for maintaining contacts with companies worldwide. All our chambers are also users of the zoom platform, so this way of working wasn’t strange to us. The Chamber was very active during the state of emergency and informed members about the situation in Serbia, but also in France, via regular email-based communications. All our regular activities (members’ meetings, sector-specific clubs,
