“There are no major movements between firms, or any new firms popping up," says Petar Mitrovic, Partner at Karanovic & Partners in Belgrade, about the Serbian legal market. “There have been some movements, some partners leaving their law offices and moving to the private sector, but nothing worth writing home about."
Mitrovic carries the tune when it comes to the political scenery of Serbia as well, describing the current the country as “pretty much a stable show – and the political stability seems to be paying off in terms of increased FDI numbers and the fact that the country's GDP is on the rise as well.“
“There is a lot of construction going on in Serbia right now," Mitrovic says, turning the discussion to active business sectors in the country. “In addition to other factors it would seem that a long and warm Autumn attributed to this," he explains, pointing to a new patch of highway in Surcin-Obrenovac, near Belgrade, as well as a significant number of construction sites in the capital itself.
Still, it’s not just construction that’s active; Mitrovic reports that “the mining sector is booming right now, in the east and west of the country." He notes that Zijin Mining and Rio Tinto, two of the largest mining companies operating in Serbia, “have the potential to set up the first greenfield mines in Serbia in the next few years."
Finally, Mitrovic refers to two legislative updates on the horizon. “First," he says, “there is the proposed Act on Construction Planning that is currently being discussed in the Parliament. It is more investment-friendly, as it brings clarity to some issues that the previous legislation lacked, and it is expected to expedite the construction process." Second, he says that next year is likely to see a new incentive scheme for renewable resources. “The current incentive scheme is outdated and does not allow wind parks to apply for it – which isn’t great, seeing as how there are a number of wind parks in various stages of development at the moment." Still, he says, "this scheme shouldn’t be expected to come into play until Q3 of 2020, with the parliamentary elections set for March likely to slow things down a little bit."
