Welcoming the Conference participants, Mr. Luka Andrić - State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development of the Republic of Serbia – has emphasized that Serbian Government’s main goal is to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement within the shortest possible period, as it would, consequently, direct Serbia towards the European Union. “On Serbia’s way to Europe, a lot of work remains to be completed by the state and its institutions. However, when it comes to business registration and managing electronic business registries as public databases, I am glad to note that Serbia is already a member of the most important European associations of business registers”, Mr. Andrić has concluded. Mr. Zvonko Obradović, Director of the Serbian Business Registers Agency and 2007/2008 President of the ECRF Steering Committee, has stated that there are 305,000 business entities registered at the moment, out of which 97,000 business companies and 208,000 entrepreneurs (“sole traders”), as well as that number of newly established companies has been increasing by 10% on the average, from years to year. The Agency, which exists three years, takes in ambitious development plans, prioritizing its active involvement in international associations of business registers, constant application of newly adopted facts, as well as a continuous improvement of its electronic services, accomplishment of higher efficiency in the field of business registration, and a transparent performance of its services.
Fifty-one representatives from USA, 16 European states and Serbia participated in the Conference. The Conference was attended by representatives from: USA, Switzerland, Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden, United Kingdom, Guernsey, Latvia, Italy, Greece, Lithuania, Macedonia, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Ireland, The Netherlands, Denmark, as well as representatives of the National Bank of Serbia, Belgrade Stock Exchange, Republican Statistical Office, Spinnaker (member of ComTrade Group), Belit Ltd., and Belgrade College for Accounting and Stock-Exchange Transactions.
Ms. Liv A. Watson, an American XBRL expert (Vice President of Global Strategy at EDGAR Online Inc. (Nasdaq: EDGR) - a leading provider of value-added business and financial information on global multinational companies to financial, corporate and advisory professionals, XBRL International Steering Committee Member and Chair of the XBRL International Jurisdiction Development Working Group, is responsible for developing EDGAR Online's International business development strategy. In her opening presentation, Ms. Watson reported her long-standing and rewarding experience in XBRL application in the USA, particularly reviewing a multiple possibilities of XBRL application not only in the financial reporting supply chain, but also a broader XBRL adoption.
Another prominent introductory key-note speaker, Mr. Paolo Lombardi, Director of the Group's Contact Center of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Deputy Coordinator of the EU-funded ICT project “MUSING” (“Multi-industry, semantic-based business intelligence”), presented the MPS Bank's experience in using XBRL.
The following eleven presenters have considerably contributed to the Conference with their interesting and valuable presentations: Mr. Ryan Gydesen (Denmark), Mr. Matthieu van Bommel (The Netherlands), Ms. Helene Alund (Sweden), Ms. Monica Grahn (Sweden), Mr. Nico Weydert (Luxembourg), Ms. Paola Fumiani (Italy), Mr. Piero Milani (Italy), Mr. Arthur West (UK), Ms. Jo Jones (UK), Mr. Branislav Dobrosavljević (SBRA) and Dr. Stanislav Polić (Serbia).
This specialized ECRF Conference was held for the first time in a country which does not belong to the group of the most developed EU members (the previous two XBRL ECRF Conferences were held in the Netherlands and Sweden). As the Conference was held in the region that is still out of the Union, it also dealt with a present status and development perspectives of a contemporary business and financial reporting that applies international accounting standards and XBRL, not only in Serbia, but also in the region of South Eastern Europe (Croatia, Macedonia).
On June 19-20, 2008, the Serbian Business Registers Agency will organize and host the 11th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the ECRF General Assembly. Luxembourg, i.e. the Commercial and Companies' Register of Luxembourg (Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés - RCSL), will undertake the ECRF presidency from Serbia, at the June Conference. The one-year tenure of office of the Director of the Serbian Business Registers Agency, Mr. Zvonko Obradović, as the ECRF Steering Committee President, will also expire in June.