The representatives of Niš City and five City municipalities signed the Agreement on Cooperation with International Financial Corporation (IFC) related to joint work on development of better conditions for business operations through simplification of administrative procedures and improvement of services provided to entrepreneurs. More efficient and modern local administration achieved by the implementation of this project will be of better service to the citizens and interested investors. This project sets as its objective establishing better relations between the citizens and local administrations representatives.

On the occasion of Agreement signing, Niš City Mayor Miloš Simonović said that this project was in accordance with Niš City development policy. "The efficient functioning of the local administration speaks about any city and it can be decisive element when investors chose where to invest", stressed Mayor Simonović. "Applying the European methods, we are going to standardise and define administrative procedures in order to reform the functioning of the local self government with the aim of achieving more efficient business operating, improve the business environment, simplify the procedures for issuing the permits and enhance the transparency of administration functioning. We set the application of European standards which will downsize the number of procedures as our goal and we have to achieve it as soon as possible. The improvement of city competitiveness is especially important in the time of financial crisis related to international completion in attracting foreign investors", said Mayor Simonović.

Градоначелник Милош Симоновић

Антоин Курусел Лабрус, ИФЦ

"It is our pleasure to work with Mayor Simonović and his team on developing the better conditions for business operations in Niš City. By providing assistance to Niš and other municipalities we hope to help in attracting investors and to encourage the development of private sector in Serbia", said the IFC representative Antoine Courcelle Labrousse. He added that he was especially impressed with the seriousness that Niš City approached this project with.

Mayor Simonović added that the project of regulations guillotine was in accordance with the recommendation from Serbian government related to the assessment of the employee number since the administrative procedure standardisation would require new job systematisation.

IFC, World Bank member is working with four cities in Serbia on simplification of local administrative procedures. It has been estimated that the companies and citizens in Kruševac, Užice, Vranje and Zrenjanin could save up to 1,5 million dollars per year due by implementing the regulation simplification and lower fees for taxes and they will save 1,7 million days which are now spent on waiting.