INTERVIEW
RADOŠ GAZDIĆ, DIRECTOR OF HE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF SERBIA (RAS)
Vitality In Confronting Challenges
The experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic could prompt major companies to opt for geographically closer suppliers and logistically simpler processes in the future. This is an opportunity for Serbia to attract new foreign investors, but also for domestic companies to become parts of large, global supply chains. Under the circumstances of the pandemic, there was almost no delay in constructing capacities for contracted investments, which reached record levels in 2019
D
evelopments on the economic front have undergone major shifts and changes at the global level during the Covid-19 pandemic. That uncertain period is a kind of challenge even now, and will probably remain so in the coming months for all companies, whether they are large corporations or small companies and entrepreneurs, in Serbia or any other country of the world. “As for Serbia specfically and the operations of companies here, a distinction could primarily be made between two types of companies, because the challenges or effects of the ‘Covid-19 situation’ differ depending on whether we are talking about small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs or
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multinationals and large companies operating in Serbia,” says Radoš Gazdić, director of the Development Agency of Serbia (RAS). When it comes to the SME sector, RAS is in constant communication with enterprises, but in a survey conducted with representatives of this sector has also seen that some of the challenges include maintaining the level of operations that they had prior to the crisis, says our interlocutor. Some of them had to temporarily halt their work and production, and they also had fears about how they would maintain liquidity. However, they agree that the measures taken by the government proved to be an effective intervention without which it would not have been possible to return
to regular business flows. The period ahead will certainly be challenging for this type of company, given that operations are still experiencing a slowdown and, as such, companies remain wary of new financial investments and exposure to risks. “Additional measures that the state plans to take as a form of support to additional employment will certainly contribute to increased operational security,” says Gazdić. Large companies and multinational corporations had a situation globally, and also here, which saw the interruption or aggravated functioning of supply chains. And that will probably influence the future reorientation of these companies towards suppliers that are geographically closer and towards pro-
