Zvornik open for new investments
“Zvornik has made further progress this year when the Business Friendly Environment Certificate (BFC) was obtained and many procedures for potential investors have been simplified,” Zvornik Mayor Zoran Stevanovic said after meeting with Sanja Miovcic, executive director of the Foreign Investors Council.
The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) is a non-profit business association founded in 2006 that represents the interests of foreign investors present in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Association brings together the 70 largest regional and international foreign companies that have so far invested more than nine (9) billion KM in BiH, and employs more than 20,000 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. FIC members come from a variety of sectors: manufacturing, mining, construction, energy, trade, information technology, legal and financial services, telecommunications, food and beverage production, and many others.
At the meeting were discussed investment opportunities in the city of Zvornik, cooperation with existing investors, and current investment projects.
A special topic of the meeting was the initiative to open a free zone in the city of Zvornik, which due to the proximity of the border with the Republic of Serbia has excellent potential for facilitated foreign trade, which would enable the creation of significant jobs in this city.
The director of the Council of Foreign Investors, Ms. Miovčić, pointed out that the establishment and improvement of the regime of free zones in the Republic of Srpska would lead to an increase in the amount of direct foreign investments.
“Free zones as an integral part of foreign trade policy are an exceptional mechanism for attracting foreign investments. “Experiences from the region of the Western Balkans show that free zones attract a significant number of foreign investors who currently play an important role in the economies of these countries,” said Miovcic.
After the meeting, the delegation visited the Swiss company “Zeohem”, which opened a factory in Zvornik in 2018 and started production for the processing of zeolites and chromatographic gels. More than nine million Swiss francs have been invested in the realization of this investment.