Edvard Jakopin, the director of the Serbian National Institute for Development from 2001 to 2011, discusses issues of sustainable development in Southeast Europe, the latest growth trends, structural reforms as an indispensable prerequisite for achieving sustainable development in the region, and the challenges laying ahead. In his article for the VIP Blog, he analyses reasons for lack of competitiveness in the region and suggests structural reforms as the central element for further progress.
“Effects of the applied model of social and economic transformation in the SEE countries, lasting over two decades, have neither contributed to their economic progress, nor helped their economic systems to adapt to more vigorous competition and its high standards. International barometer of competitiveness ranks the whole SEE region very low - at the tail of its list. For years, the SEE nations have been fighting brain drain. The most critical areas of competitiveness in the SEE encompass Institutions, Business Compliance and Innovations.
Albeit the reasons for that are numerous, the primary ones include delayed pre-transition start and slow, selective and unfinished structural reforms.“
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