Companies from the Western Balkans Six Region presented themselves at the Hannover Fair as the joint delegation of Western Balkans Six Chamber Investment Forum. Supported by European Commission within the project “EU support to WB6 CIF”, companies from automotive and metal industry had the opportunity both to present their potentials and had b2b meetings with other companies presented at the Fair.

At the world’s leading trade fair for industry, around 4.000 companies from mechanical engineering, the electrical and digital industries are showing technologies and solutions for a networked and climate-neutral industry. From the digitalization and automation of complex production processes to the use of hydrogen to supply factories with energy and the use of software to record and reduce the carbon footprint. Top topics at Hannover Fair 2023 are CO2-neutral production, energy management, industry 4.0, artificial intelligence and machine learning likewise hydrogen& fuel cells.

The main goal of joint WB6 CIF delegation participation at the Fair is to connect manufacturers, TIER1&2 companies with potential investors and business partners from EU and with relevant public institutions to support development of automotive industry in the Western Balkans and create new supply chains including companies from WB6 region.

Companies presented at the WB6 CIF stand are: Activa Ltd., Brako, Daido, Emsol, Gomma Line, Industry Association, Kaz Group Ltd, Medena Commerce, Metal Kosova, Metal Processing Association, Metalac Fad, Remid Vis, Serbian Automotive Cluster, Tikt Manufactura Ltd.

Within the participation at the fair WB6 CIF also organized Investment Conference 2023, the event that gathered European investors, with a view to presenting opportunities and benefits from investing in the region. The conference disseminates the information on the investment framework, including benefits and opportunities of doing business in the Western Balkans region, but also showcase examples of successful investments to the region for the benefit of companies considering investments to the region. Additionally, it provided information on the Common Regional Market and the benefits and opportunities it offers to foreign investors in the short and medium term. The audience ware companies from the automotive and metal industry from Germany and other leading European markets.

The conference was opened by Mr. Lulzim Rafuna, President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce and WB6 CIF Managing Board President who sent a message that joint cooperation is the key of success and that only together we can move forward. Within the panel dedicated to the investors insight, Mr. Viktor Mizo, Vice-president of Kostal Group presented region’s potentials and an overview of actual situation. As it was said, this region is full of hidden potentials that shell not be wasted. The things are moving forward, the region is improving in many fields and despite challenges that we are all faced with, positive impacts are visible. As it was recommended during the panel, creation of different joint WB6 CIF sectorial clusters could be more interested to foreign investors and that should be the path to go on in future WB6 CIF activities. Martin Gaber… Alexander Markus, Mareike Wolter…. And Branislav Bugarski were also the panelists within the panel mentioned above and they have shared their positive view of the actual state at the region including reasons why the region is interesting for investment.

The second panel gathered representatives of the agencies dealing with foreign investments and promotion in the region who presented countries potentials individually. They spoke about the current state of play of the FDI in the WB6 region – the main advantages, challenges and risks. Panelists were Mileva Meksi, Slavica Korica, Arber Muhaxheri, Igor Veleski, Stanislava Vasilijevic and Eugen Osmochescy from the world bank.