Serbian Minister of Religious Affairs and the Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic stated Tuesday that investors from the diaspora can substantially contribute to the country's economic recovery, adding that the diaspora has invested a total of USD 550 million in Serbia since 2000.

Sreckovic stressed that this requires Serbia's economic system not to differ from the ones in the developed world, where investors from the diaspora are used to doing business.

"Today's Serbia does not call on the diaspora to help their native land in an old quasi-patriotic way, but rather to invest in lucrative projects, make a profit, employ domestic work force and thus contribute to the GDP growth," Sreckovic pointed out Tuesday.

According to the data of the World Bank, Serbia's revenues from the diaspora's foreign currency remittances from 2000-2010 totaled USD 42.96 billion, the ministry's statement reads

The data of Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA) show that Serbia has attracted USD 21.15 billion of foreign direct investments since 2000, which means that the financial inflow from the diaspora was twice as big as the one from foreign investors.

Since 2000, the diaspora directly invested USD 550 million in Serbia's economy and hired a total of 25,000 people by founding small and medium-sized companies, Sreckovic underscored.

The diaspora's investments so far, particularly during the crisis, were valuable, but the fact is that the possibilities are much greater, he said.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Diaspora made an electronic catalogue for investors from the diaspora, offering 193 investment projects in 68 cities and municipalities, Sreckovic underscored.

The majority of the investment projects, are in the area of tourism (40.6 percent), industrial zones (20.3 percent) and infrastructure (18.7 percent).