The reforms Serbia has been conducting bring along progress and enable the country to “moderately deal with international market’s economies,” Sem Fabrizi, the European Union Delegation in Serbia, said on Friday, the Beta news agency reported.

Addressing the 11th annual conference of the National Alliance for Local Development (NALED), Fabrizi said a lot remained to be done in reducing the public debt, state administration reforms and the employment of women and young people.

“To increase Serbia’s economic capacity in the European market, the education must be better and the fiscal duties reduced,” he said, adding “Serbia’s readiness to accept European legal heritage is watched even through a window.”

Since the economic agenda goes “hand-in-hand with the political one” it is necessary to secure the independence of judiciary, media freedom, and as one of the most critical issue, the electronic public procurement, Fabrizi added.

He said that Serbia’s export to the EU market was 67 percent, while 73 percent of all investments in Serbia came from the bloc.

“We are aware the reforms are complex, and that’s why we give a hand to Serbia with millions of Euros donated in the last years,” Fabrizi said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief for Serbia James Roaf, said the country was becoming a better place for doing business due to its macroeconomic stability, reduction of public debt and low and stable inflation.

Serbia, he added, had a healthy banking system and its employment and investments were on the rise.

“In the last three years the IMF has focused on the structural reforms in Serbia, together with NALED, on the reduction of state administration employment and cuts in the grey economy area, Roaf said.

He added that a lot still had to be done, especially in the judiciary to secure the safety of agreements and business decisions.

Addressing the NALED conference, Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the reforms are not carried out for the better ranking on the World Bank’s Doing Business List or because they are a part of the EU integration process, but because of the economy and citizens to make their life easier and better.

“That is a path leading to a better business environment and the rule of law,” she added.