Ognjen Colić, head of Gecić Law’s corporate practice, spoke at the 4th Serbian Public Private Partnership Conference, a hybrid event held today, organized under the auspices of the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the British Embassy in Belgrade, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia. Opening remarks were delivered by several high government officials and experts, including Tomislav Momirovic, Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure and Andjelka Atanackovic, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Serbia. Besides high government officials, developers, contractors and service providers engaged in public-private partnerships also attended the event.
As a pioneering expert in the field in Serbia, Ognjen spoke at the panel titled “Addressing smaller PPP projects – the UK experience”, comparing and contrasting the Serbian experience in the field with Richard Thomas, principal at Harston Associates, a leading advisor on PPP projects in the UK. Ognjen drew interesting parallels between the Serbian and UK experience and concluded that the Serbian local communities have much to learn from the UK journey in the PPP field and could avoid some of their mistakes. He also underlined the significance of building the legal capacities of local authorities to tackle complex PPP negotiations and agreements and called for an even greater level of support from central authorities.
Read Ognjen’s full bio here.
