Construction of the first IKEA department store in Belgrade should begin in the fall, because the company expects that all administrative procedures and the necessary permits will be completed by summer, the chief executive director of IKEA Michael Olson said.

Olson said in an interview to the latest issue of the weekly NIN, that the company will invest around 250 million euros in five department stores that will be built in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and central Serbia, and that each of them will employ about 400 workers.

Olson also said that he saw no connection with politics or any reason for his visit to be described as support for any political campaign.

My visit to Serbia was initiated as early as in June 2011 as part of the visit to the region of Southeastern Europe, he said.

Meetings with the authorities in all four countries were exclusively commercial in character in order to move forward IKEA investment in these countries, Olson said.

He said that he is not afraid of any change of government in Serbia and that he would continue dialogue with all officials who influence the decisions important for the further development of the IKEA investment in Serbia.

The elections in Serbia will not change our investment plans, Olson said.