Efficient services for 97,000 businesses in 18 cities and municipalities
The Minister of Public Administration and Local Government Branko Ružić has talked today with representatives of 18 cities and municipalities that acquired a Business Friendly Certificate (BFC SEE) or are currently undergoing the certification process, highlighting the Ministry's support to the certification program, as it eases and improves the work of local governments, that stand the closer to citizens.
Taking part in the round table "Business Friendly Cities and Municipalities" he said that the improvement of business environment attracts more investors and ensures better quality of life for citizens.
Over the previous 10 years, more than 50 local governments have taken part in the certification program, striving to meet the requirements of the national or regional certificate, thus improving their business environment. He added that, going through the Business Friendly Certification (BFC SEE), the local governments have upgraded the work of their administration to a new level, introducing the highest international standards in this field.
„The Ministry wants to support the cities and municipalities that work on improving their services and stand as a role model for others. For this reason, in last year's open call for awarding funds for infrastructure projects, allocated from the Budget fund for local government programs, we highlighted BFC certificate as an additional plus for obtaining this valuable support“, said the Minister.
He also added that year by year, the Ministry has been allocating more and more finance through the Local Fund, and last year this amounted to 320 million dinars, compared to 490 this year, and estimated 520 million to be allocated in the 2020 budget.
„BFC certificate should remain one of the documents acknowledged in the open call, being additionally recognized as a way of showing that we truly value the improvements you have achieved by investing strong efforts and initiative“, said the Minister.
Dejan Đokić, the President of NALED Executive Office and the Director of Asseco SEE, said that by undergoing the BFC SEE program, the certified municipalities improved their business environment by 70% thanks to the clear guidelines on how to introduce the highest international standard of business environment in their local administration.
- For businesses and citizens, the local counters act as the first point for developing an impression about the level of efficiency of public administration, and whether this is the location they wish to start a business in. Through this program, the certified municipalities have built significantly higher capacities for caring about businesses, and they are more efficient in using it so they were twice as much successful in attracting investments - said Đokić.
The Business Friendly Certification was initiated in Serbia in 2008 as a unique initiative for improving the quality of services and information the local governments provide to businesses. The quality of this program has been recognized by partners in the region, who developed the first joint regional standard of business friendly environment (BFC SEE). So far, 54 local governments from Croatia, North Macedonia, BiH, Montenegro and Serbia have obtained the certificate, with another 33 currently undergoing the process.
Today-s working meeting with Minister Ružić and NALED management was attended by the representatives of Novi Sad, Šabac, Ćuprija, Stara Pazova, Pančevo, Sombor, Leskovac, Čačak, Niš, Raška, Ruma, Požarevac, Subotica, Velika Plana, Bor, Užice, Gornji Milanovac and Pećinci.
