TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

they have to accept that competition is a fact of life . They cannot come toterms that unlike under a totalitarian system nothing is certain anymore and itbecomes necessary to fight daily for what they want to achieve . Whether it isin politics, culture or the economy, the best and hardest working will win . Thefirst transitional years will be the most difficult and at the moment they areseeing some of the negative aspects . In about 10 years he expects they willsee some of the positives . In the meantime, there is a great deal of impatienceas people expect immediate results and were not prepared for some of theinitial problems such as unemployment etc . and will need some time tochange their way of thinking .Elections will be held on September 19 . This time, the City Assembly will beelected on proportional representation . The Mayor will be directly elected forthe first time . About 20 people have so far announced that they intend to run,but they need to fulfil the formal precondition of gathering 8,000 signatures ona petition, which equates to about 3% of the vote . The campaign is mainlydoor-to-door, definitely the cheapest and most effective form of campaigning .The Mayor has the endorsement of the Democratic Party and he distributesleaflets with his party's program by going door-to door . This door-to-doorpolicy is positive because it allows personal contact .All candidates make the same classic mistake - saying/promising what theyare going to build . The total annual budget of the City is only 110,000,000Euros . In terms of investments, Novi Sad is the main artery of Vojvodina, theleading centre of investment, much of which is foreign . Recently two majorinvestments have been announced, one a Slovenian Mega-market and theother a large grocery store . We are still waiting for proper big investorsbecause by its nature, it is speculative capital that enters first .The country's best investment incentives are that labour and other costs hereare cheaper than in other parts of Europe and even more so than Belgrade .This is an automatic advantage ; therefore, there is no need to offer any othertype of incentives . The city is at the initial stages of privatisation, a good timeto send a signal to business people about the good prospects of investing inSerbia .Travel Report, Hon. Michael Atkinson, MP. and Ms. Vini Ciccarello MP., August, 2004 107