A strong and productive regional cooperation has never been more important! Having in mind the benefits of such cooperation, ten AmCham’s recently joined forces in order to attract more investments in the region of the Southeast Europe (SEE). The initiative was raised by AmCham Serbia and it builds upon an earlier one, initiated by AmCham Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, in Tirana in 2013. The NEW SEE initiative brings together AmCham’s from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia. They have determined concrete actions for presenting the region as a single investment destination with outstanding potential. Hence, the title – SEE the potential.

The first question to be raised is WHY? The answer can be found in the economy of scale.

• This initiative is very significant for Montenegro, being the smallest market of the ten. A number of small, fragmented and differentiated markets are far from being any investor’s dream. Together, the NEW SEE is the market of about 50mil people, which is much more attractive for developing a business.
• Likewise, the region itself is not much differentiated: the countries are either EU members or on the road of becoming members, they have the same heritage and similar terms when taking into account the political stability, quality of the rule of law and the overall business climate.
• The geographical position of the region is an important factor, especially when bearing in mind that export to the EU can be made with cost of labor, transport and custom duties significantly lower than in the EU! This is why it is only natural for the region to be presented as a unique investment destination.

Thus far, the reasoning is clear. Now, HOW do we achieve the goal of attracting more investors to this single area of the NEW SEE? AmCham’s have gathered in Belgrade on December 2-3 in order to discuss specific steps and activities for the NEW SEE initiative. The agreed action items for implementing the initiative are as follows:

• The most important step in the initiative is organizing the NEW SEE Investment Forum, which will be held in Belgrade in March 2015. The Forum is envisioned as a yearly event, gathering high level politicians, investors who are already present in the region and potential investors, who are considering an investment in the region. The emphasis of the conference is the potential of the region, including the talent pool, natural resources, etc. The idea is to create a networking event which will allow for investors to share experiences and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the region. Likewise, ten Prime Ministers from the region are expected to attend and discuss the opportunities for investments in each country. 
• In addition, another key activity is the creation of a web platform for the NEW SEE. The website will contain the necessary information about the regional market, the AmCham’s participating in the initiative and their activities, as well as the information related to the Investment Forum. This platform will be of great use to potential investors, but also to those already present in the region. The NEW SEE website will also be of significant value for exchanging important information between AmCham’s.

To sum up, these and other concrete activities were discussed in Belgrade this week. However, it has been concluded that there is significant investment potential in the region. Now, it is up to these ten AmCham’s to enable the businesses to SEE it.