Project news

The year is coming to an end and regardless of the circumstances that followed it, we are pleased to inform you that the realization of the Link Up! Serbia II funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), with funds from the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) in the amount of 1,669.454 million euros, in full accordance with the defined timeframes. In order to develop business cooperation with the Serbian diaspora through investment support, partnerships between companies from the diaspora and domestic small and medium enterprises, and support to local governments in presenting investment potential, with your support and involvement from the first day, we managed to achieve all expected results. We have developed a pioneering roadmap based on given criteria, mapped and shared with the diaspora hub more than 30 foreign direct investments from 8 sectors from our territory, organized the first regional meeting of stakeholders and project partners, fully implemented the technical assistance / assistance package for 3 local governments (Ćuprija, Paraćin and Despotovac) through the collection and presentation of national and local data as well as the development of 5 investment and business opportunities, we have contributed to the functionality of the online platform by collecting and submitting all relevant data for our territory. The database has been prepared and in 2021 we will focus on the promotion of investment opportunities through a series of events on this topic. We thank the donor, the Link Up project team! Serbia II, partners, and especially local governments on commitment and cooperation!

More on: https://youtu.be/oO47lgKyFwU

On the 16^th of December, expert team working on the production of promotional materials for direct investments, began field work and visits to investment sites in targeted local governments of the Pomoravlje district. In the next two days, a total of 15 investment locations will be recorded on the territories of the municipalities of Ćuprija, Paraćin and Despotovac. We thank the municipal leadership for their commitment and involvement.

On 16.12.2020, with the online presence of numerous guests, a ceremony of virtual signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS) and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) was held. Memorandum was signed, on behalf of CCIS, by Mr. Mihailo Vesović, Director of Sector for Strategic Analysis, Services and Internationalisation, and on behalf of ICMPD, Mr. Martijn Pluim, Director of Migration Dialogues and Cooperation. Ms. Erika Teoman – Brenner, Commercial Counsellor at the Austrian Embassy, emphasized during the ceremony the importance of the diaspora, implementation of the Link Up! Serbia II project, as well as cooperation between Austria and Serbia on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Austria in Belgrade. During the ceremony, the importance of online platform was especially emphasized. The platform will be developed at the beginning of the next year as a long – term tool that will be taken over by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia for permanent use and management. The platform will also be an integral part of the Diaspora Business Hub, which has already been launched as a part of the Link Up! Serbia II project. The platform will enable quick and easy matchmaking of entrepreneurs and companies from the diaspora and Serbia.

More on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JsL9PDF-JI&t=10s

Regional Development Agency of Eastern Serbia (#RARIS), 15.12.2020. hosted the third, this time online, meeting of the Link Up! Serbia II team and representatives of the SME and RDA. The topic of the meeting was the cooperation of local governments and SME representatives with our business diaspora in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. More about the meetings soon on the YouTube channel and LinkedIn page:

https://www.youtube.com/results...

https://www.linkedin.com/company/68300717/admin/

#RARIS #LinkUp #RDA #ADC #ADA #REDASP #Jug

Second Regional Meeting of Link Up! Serbia project was held in Pozarevac on Wednesday, November 4, 2020. In addition to the implementation of the project, there was a discussion on the experiences of TA to implementation in the local governments (created investment opportunities), as well as experiences of mapping investment opportunities in each of the RDA regions and presented a strategic and methodological framework for local diaspora engagement and technical assistance to units of local self governments.

On October 9, 2020, a technical meeting - a webinar, was held within the Link Up! Serbia II project. The webinar itself was a kind of follow-up to the "First Regional Meeting of Partners" in Kragujevac in order to discuss the process and project documents / material, exchange initial experiences, record and resolve all potential challenges, concerns and open issues.

On 28^th of September, REDASP hosted the first regional meeting of project partners and regional stakeholders. During the meeting of project partners, the methodology and questionnaire for mapping direct investments of diaspora were presented, a discussion was held on creating a framework to support the outsourcing of the diaspora to Serbia, as well as a discussion related to the implementation of promotional activities. In the first part of the meeting, which was attended by representatives of Regional chamber of commerce Kragujevac, the municipalities of Ćuprija, Paraćin and Despotovac, representatives of the SME sector, REDASP and the Link Up! Serbia II, the role of the Business Hub for the Diaspora was presented, then the development and role of an online platform for the Diaspora, mentoring programs for SMEs and "5 measures" to support cooperation with the Diaspora and solutions for long-term and inclusive cooperation between RBA and local governments were discussed. See more about the event at:

https://rtk.co.rs/prvi-regionalni-sastanak-projekta-link-up-srbija-ii/