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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Israel ready to invest in Serbia

Belgrade, 1 April 2005

In an interview for today’s Glas Javnosti, Serbian Minister of International Economic Relations Milan Parivodic summed up the results of the government delegation’s recent visit to Israel. The government’s website brings excerpts:

Milan Parivodic

Areas that are interesting for Israeli firms for investing:

Israeli petrol company Bateman is ready to invest $600 million in Novi Sad’s and Pancevo’s refineries as well as in Petrohemija. Also, Bateman is interested in concessions in gold and copper mines on Crni Vrh. The Company Africa-Israel, which is already building a business centre in Belgrade worth €120 million, wants to build roads in Serbia. We talked with representatives of multinational companies, such as high-tech companies Rad and Alvarion that have already done business with Telekom. One Israeli firm should build a six-storey hotel on Rajiceva Street, but there are archaeological problems there. Israeli companies are estimated to be able to invest around €1.5 billion, compared to at least €800,000 invested in other neighbouring countries.

Building a hotel in the vicinity of Kalemegdan:

I think that the issue needs to be resolved as rights of former owners must be respected. Representatives of the state, Directorate for Building Land, Israeli companies and former owners must agree on how their mutual interests would be compensated. The problem of restitution is not directly the authority of the Ministry of International Economic Relations, but everything that brings our economy closer to the standards of the developed countries is among our concerns.

Serbia’s economic relations with the world if we do not get the positive feasibility study soon:

In the case that Serbia does not get a positive feasibility study, the consequences would be a more passive attitude of the international community toward Serbia, and “our case would be placed in the drawer,” as lawyers would say. There would be much less investment, which means that there would be less jobs. After the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, that would be the second big shock after October 5.

Foreign assistance to Serbia:

We are talking about €600 million, or $780 million in donations or soft loans. That is somewhat less when compared to last year, when $890 million poured in. As much as we are closer to Europe, the assistance will go up. For example, one of the advantages of EU admission is for our children to pay £3,000 for a top school in London instead of £9,000.