The opening in October of the new subsidiary in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, is an extension of COWI's long-standing consultancy activities in Central and Eastern Europe. Another COWI subsidiary will be opening for business at the end of this year in Turkey.
In the early stages, the new subsidiaries will operate extensively within their respective areas. The Serbian company will be concentrating on transportation consultancy, while the Turkish subsidiary will be working on the environmental science, water and the economics.
One-stop-shopping
As EU accession countries both Serbia and Turkey receive considerable international attention, which makes them attractive markets for the consultant sector. The EU announcement of opening of negotiations with Turkey, for instance, has released a fund of a billion Euros to help raise the country's environment and infrastructure to EU standards.
COWI has good opportunities in the competition:
"What marks us out is the breadth of our consultancy, because we can take in the whole spectrum from politics and legislation to infrastructure, organisation and finance. Most of the other consultants in both Turkey and Serbia have to make use of external assistance, but we can supply everything from within the COWI organisation. That means one-stop-shopping for our clients," explains project manager Claus Hvashøj Jørgensen.
Strong network and collaboration
COWI has been working in Serbia and Turkey for many years on transport and environmental planning assignments and design projects for bridges and infrastructure. They have built up a good platform from which to continue, and a strong network with other companies in these countries.
"We are not starting from scratch. We have already established a firm foothold and we know our clients and business partners. At the same time we know the market well," says Mr Jørgensen.
The Serbian and the Turkish companies each have four employees at present, and they expect numbers to increase to 15 to 20 during the next two years.
Published: 12.10.2005
By Line Steenberg
