Minister Sarovic at Ministerial Conference of the South East Europe Investment Committee - “South East Europe 2020 – Towards Convergence and Growth”



Sarovic: “Creating conditions for attracting domestic and foreign investments will help us establish sustainability and growth of our economies…”

November 9^th, 2012 – Minister Sarovic took an active role at the Ministerial Conference of the South East Europe Investment Committee - “South East Europe 2020 – Towards Convergence and Growth” held in Tirana, co-organized and co-chaired by the Government of the Republic of Albania and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).

In his address, Minister Sarovic pointed out that one of the basic concepts of the Strategy Europe 2020 referred to the European industrial policy.

“In this era of intensifying globalization,” Minister Sarovic said, “coordinated policy responses are needed. And not only Europe, but all CEFTA Parties need an approach that looks at the whole value chain, from infrastructure and raw materials to after-sales service. Promoting the creation and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises has to be at the core of any country industrial policy. Moreover, the transition to a sustainable economy has to be seized as an opportunity to strengthen competitiveness. At the same time, creating the best conditions for attracting domestic or foreign investments in the region will help us creating sustainability and growth of our economies. In my opinion these target are common to all CEFTA Parties and therefore we need to look into concrete measures that will help the CEFTA region in achieving the level of competitiveness that is required by the EU.”

Continuing his address, Minister Sarovic expressed his belief about the Joint Committee Report of 2012 as being the best starting point for the SEE 2020 Strategy.

“I believe that all CEFTA Parties are committed to the best implementation of the CEFTA agreement and to the road of accession to the EU. These two major policy objectives should be kept in mind before agreeing on any other concrete step forward. As it was mentioned before, we have to take into account the specificities of our economies. The possible opening of trade in services negotiations for further liberalization, the elimination of non-tariff measures, the transparency provisions including the notification of state aid are good example of cooperation in the CEFTA region. When deciding the regional target we have to be very realistic whether these are doable and achievable,” Minister Sarovic said.

We would like to note that the SEE 2020 vision takes inspiration from the European Union’s 2020 Growth Strategy and calls for consistent implementation of economic reforms in five growth pillars: Integrated growth to deepen regional trade and investment linkages; Smart growth to support a greater commitment to innovation and competition based on value added rather than labor costs in the long run; Sustainable growth to raise the level of private sector competitiveness, entrepreneurship and a commitment to green and more energy-efficient development; Inclusive growth to improve skills development, employment creation and labor market participation by all, including vulnerable groups and minorities; and Governance for growth to improve the capacity of public administrations to strengthen the rule of law and reduce corruption alongside balanced development at the territorial level.