Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric stated Friday that the gross domestic product should increase by about 2 percent in 2011, adding that it is encouraging that industrial production figures rose this year.

Ciric said that the EU candidate status Serbia is expecting to get in December guarantees predictability and stability of conditions in the country and should imply increase in level of investments.

In his speech at the annual summit of the Central European Initiative (CEI), Ciric said that the country could feel the impact of the second wave of the world economic crisis in case of bigger problems in the EU member-states which are Serbia's traditional trade partners.

According to him, this could imply a decrease in the demand in the countries' markets and, consequently, a lower competitiveness.

He pointed out that the cooperation between CEI members could be improved in the domain of trade, as well as in joint ventures in third-country markets.