The Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce has had an exceptionally dynamic year with many networking opportunities, as well as opportunities for presentation of the Chamber’s operations and organization of important events of which we would like to single out the dual education conference called „Dual Education Serbia 2018: Current results and future challenges“ which took place in October this year as the most important one.
At the Kopaonik Business Forum in March 2018, the SSCC organized a business networking cocktail at which Mrs Ana Govedarica, Vice President of the SSCC, greeted the guests, and gave a short overview of the Chamber’s work and activities.
The new opportunity for the SSCC members to gather again happened in May 2018. President of the SSCC, Mr. Majo Mićović and the host Mrs Yana Mikhailova greeted the guests. On the occasion, two Chamber members – Sky Express d.o.o. and the INP Group – presented their companies, and there was also a presenation of the project „The League of Successful“. The main goal of the project is to present those SSCC members that have greatly contributed and demonstrated strong dedication to the SSCC’s operations to other members and the overall Swiss-Serbian business community.
Another gathering, the International Networking Cocktail, was held on May 24th, 2018 and attracted more than 200
participants, mainly top management from companies that are members of 11 bilateral chambers from Serbia. In a
relaxed atmosphere, the SSCC members used this opportunity for business networking and establishing new business contacts with representatives of the German, French, Nordic, Italian, Belgian, Hellenic, Japanese, Croatian, Slovenian and Canadian chambers.
In June, an HR seminar “SSCC HR CONNECT MEETING” was organized in cooperation with the Mokra Gora School of Management (MGSM) where MGSM organized lectures on four different topics that were intended for senior HR representatives of the SSCC members.
There were also two events dedicated to dual education. The SSCC panel on dual education was held at the Vivaldi Forum in September 2018.
Also, in order to adequately prepare the conference on dual education, the SSCC organized an expert meeting on dual education with Dr. Gabrijela Grujić, Assistant Minister from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, as a honorary guest expert at this event. The meeting was organized with the view of the SSCC members exchanging experiences in the field of labour recruitment and identifying key topics for discussion at the conference. A meeting was held on Wednesday, 20th June, 2018 at the premises of Roche d.o.o. Serbia which was helmed by the SSCC President, Mr. Majo Mićović and Dr. Garbrijela Grujić.
One of the most important events in 2018 was certainly the SSCC conference on dual education called “Dual Education Serbia 2018: Current results and future challenges”, which was held in October, as part of a continuing Swiss-Serbian dialogue aimed at contributing to the development of a new education system in Serbia, and promoting the Swiss VET system. His Excellency Mr. Philippe Guex, the ambassador of Switzerland expressed his satisfaction that the topic of dual education was opened, as it is extremely important for the relations between Switzerland and Serbia: “Switzerland will remain committed to promoting youth employment in Serbia, with approximately 9 million euro to be in vested in the next four years. In addition to these funds, Switzerland has made its expertise and know-how available to Serbia to support the reforms in the country” said the ambassador at this gathering. Dr. Ursula Renold, Head of the Department of Educational Research of the Swiss Economic Institute at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, was one of the key speakers at the conference, and she is also the only international honorary member of the Commission of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for dual education.
The Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce is satisfied with its role of an active collaborator of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, the Swiss Embassy and all other important stakeholders in this extraordinary project,” said Majo Mićović, President of the Swiss-Serbian Chamber of Commerce. The conference was supported by Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, who underlined the immeasurable role of the Swiss experts in this venture.
Just like it started, in the spirit of networking and improvement, the year 2018 ended on the same note. The autumn
working breakfast organized by SSCC members, Confida Consulting d.o.o and Gebrüder Weiss was held at the end of November 2018 in Beton Hala, Belgrade. The lecture and panel discussion were conducted by the members of the taxation department from CONFIDA Consulting and members of the customs department from Gebrüder Weiss who
shared their know-how in the field of active inward processing from the customs perspective.
The event brought together about 100 participants, including SSCC members, as well as other organizations: the German- Serbian Chamber of Commerce (AHK – Serbia), the trade department of the Embassy of Austria, the Slovenian Business Club, the Belgian-Serbian Business Association. JBAS, as well as the Italian and Greek chambers in Serbia.
Seminar “Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Serbia”, organized by a SSCC member, MSA IP – Milojević,
Sekulić and Associates, held in late November 2018 in the premises of MSA IP, gathered about 40 participants.