- Registry portal to improve transparency and access to information, investment climate
- EBRD continues to support the initiative with project extension
- More Western Balkans countries expected to join the registry
A new online regional business registration portal in the Western Balkans will provide investors with transparent and easily accessible information about local companies thanks to support from the EBRD.
The Business and Financial Data Exchange(BIFIDEX) has been created by the Serbian Business Registers Agency and the Central Register of the Republic of North Macedonia as first countries in the region to join this regional initiative. The portal will serve as a one-stop information point for businesses and investors, providing up-to-date information from national business registry agencies.
The database currently includes over 500,000 companies and provides information about company ownership, governance, financial reports, organisational changes etc. A database will allow interested parties to search for companies active in a specific sector, a geographical location or other predefined criteria.
The portal is a direct result of the EBRD Investment Climate and Governance Initiative, which aims to improve the business environment in the Western Balkans and other regions where the Bank operates. Improving access to up-to-date and trustworthy information and increasing transparency will encourage greater confidence in the local markets.
The EBRD has been supporting the development of the Western Balkans Regional Business Registry portal and will continue to support the expansion of the initiative and integration of other Western Balkan business registries into the BIFIDEX.
Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Regional Director for Western Balkans and Head for Serbia, said: "We are pleased with the regional dimension of the project and we work towards including other business registries from the region as they get ‘data-ready’. This is very much in line with the ’connectivity agenda’ for the Western Balkans which we are pursuing with our partners."
Marija Boškovksa Jankovski, Director of the Central Register of the Republic of North Macedonia said: “These initiatives pave the way for the creation of a common market in the Western Balkans, so that the entire region should be transformed from a region with negative connotations that have brought us the past decades, in a region recognised by the principles of mutual respect, cooperation and synergy of our economies.”
Milan Lučić, Director of the Serbian Business Registers Agency, added: "In the past two years, the Serbian Business Registers Agency and the Central Register of the Republic of North Macedonia have created this joint portal based on a unique methodology that will provide businessmen from the region, but also foreign investors, with access to valuable business information with added value and exceeding existing services."
