Investments from the Netherlands to Serbia, as well as trade between the two countries, are on the rise, Dutch Ambassador to Serbia Ron van Dartel said.

After his meeting with members of the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED), which is made up of representatives of local governments in Serbia, van Dartel told the press that the largest investments were those of Heineken, which bought Pivara MB, and in three shipyards in Serbia, also mentioning the recent VDL investment in Neobus from Novi Sad.

Van Dartel also announced the arrival of a Dutch dam construction company, but he did not specify the name. Holland, according to van Dartel, supports local projects and is interested to continue taking part in them, addin that it also finds important the activities of the Association of Dutch Municipalities, which is conducting a number of projects in Serbia.

The meeting was used to discuss the development of small and medium sized companies, coperation between Serbian and Dutch cities and agricultural projects, van Dartel noted.

Municipalities have an important role as the country heads towards the EU, and it is important to implement European regulations and have developed regional organizations and local governments, the Dutch ambassador stated. NALED Vice President Toplica Spasojevic said an initiative was started for NALED to take over the leading role in providing the Serbian economy with access to the EU pre-accession funds.

"NALED's role is to interconnect the economy, local self-governments, foreign partners, foreign embassies and Serbian companies.

During the meeting, we informed the Dutch ambassador about our activities and tried to act as one more bridge towards the EU," Spasojevic remarked.