'Doing Business in South East Europe 2008 compares business regulations across seven economies (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo*, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia) in four key areas: starting a business, dealing with licenses, registering property, and enforcing contracts. The study provides comparable data for 22 cities that can inspire reforms at the national and local level and add to the reform momentum of the region. The report shows that differences in local-level regulations and practices or in the implementation of national-level regulations can enhance or constrain local business activity. Overall, Bitola (Macedonia, FYR) is the easiest city to engage in business (see Table 1).

The report suggests that cities in South East Europe can learn from each other and adopt good practices that are already working in the region for rapid improvement in competitiveness. If one city were to adopt all the best existing practices in South East Europe (see Table 2), it would rank 9th among the 178 economies measured by Doing Business, similar to Ireland and Canada.'