“Our annual survey of investors’ trust and satisfaction, which AmCham has carried out among its members for the sixth year in a row, shows that judiciary and the rule of law are the top priorities for improving the business environment”, reported AmCham President Jelena Pavlović at a Business Breakfast with Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović.
The results of the survey show that the importance of an efficient judiciary and the rule of law increases each year for AmCham members. This area is the first priority for improving the business climate for 74% of respondents, while 82% of respondents say that the biggest obstacle is the length of court processes. A lack of adequate knowledge and a shortage of judges specialized in more complicated business and financial litigation also featured.
The AmCham President stressed that if the speed of development is to increase for both members of this association and the whole business sector in Serbia, a predictable business environment and strong institutions are necessary to establish equal conditions and identical rules of the game for everyone. She expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Justice for its institutional partnership in implementing this initiative, and particularly emphasized the importance of the fact that Ministry of Justice accepts the need to prepare plans, based on the recommendations and conclusions, that can be applied starting from next year.
“We recognize our members’ problems, and with the help of Ministry of Justice, we have established a constructive dialogue between the economy and the judiciary, foreseeing a series of thematic roundtables with representatives of the judiciary at all levels and in different areas such as labor law, bankruptcy, execution, tax procedures, litigation, illicit trade, intellectual property rights protection and property relations“, said Jelena Pavlović, adding that the goal of the roundtables is to open a dialogue with representatives of the judiciary in order to arrive at a mutual suggestion on how to overcome existing problems and make the judiciary better and more efficient for the business sector and citizens.
Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović said that there is extremely professional and good cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the American Chamber of Commerce, which has been going on for years, and that such cooperation has already been established during the drafting of the Law on Enforcement and Security, which is being applied today.
She pointed out that the amendments to the law are currently being worked out and that today the AmCham member representatives are actively involved in the drafting of new legal solutions.