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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia as factor of stability in the Balkans

Belgrade, 16 March 2006

Serbian Minister of International Economic Relations Milan Parivodic said today that the newly formed Commission for Branding Serbia will work on repairing the overall image of Serbia as a country that represents a factor of stability in the Balkans.

Milan Parivodic

Speaking at a press conference that followed the Serbian government’s session, Parivodic highlighted two decisions made by the government. One is the formation of the Commission for Branding Serbia, and the other is calling a tender for the privatisation advisor for the company that represents the legal successor of the company Mobtel.

According to Parivodic, the Commission for Branding Serbia will bring together four pillars of popularity as foundation for the campaign within the framework of a single project.

Parivodic explained that the campaign aims to make the country an even more attractive market for foreign investment, to improve the “made in Serbia” brand, implying an improved reception of Serbian products on the international market which should increase exports. The campaign is also aimed at improving tourism opportunities in Serbia, while the fourth pillar of the campaign are political relations with the world, which means repairing the overall image of Serbia as a peace-loving country that represents a factor of stability in the Balkans.

According to Parivodic, the idea is to engage one of the major world agencies which specialise in branding of states for this campaign, and systematically begin repairing Serbia’s image. The Ministry of International Economic Relations and the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Services will jointly lead this entire project.

Parivodic said that when it comes to calling a tender for the privatisation advisor for the company that is the legal successor of the company Mobtel, which is a company that will be formed with the property of Mobtel and will be issued a new license for mobile telephony, the plan is to collect the bids of international companies by the end of the month.

It is expected that this tender will attract bids by approximately twenty major world companies that specialise in the privatisation of mobile telephony and sale of licenses, the Minister added and emphasised that these companies have already been informed of the privatisation of Mobtel.

According to Parivodic, the Serbian government expects high revenues from the privatisation, in view of the interest expressed by major companies.

Slobodan Lalovic

Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy Slobodan Lalovic said that the government decided at its session today to launch the restructuring process in Podzemna Eksploatacija Uglja the public company for underground coal extraction.

This decision will end the miners protest from this company who have been on strike, and it will also protect the company from creditors who do not let it recover in a right way.

In addition, this decision creates the legal basis for starting gradual privatisation of some parts of the company, which is composed of several mines. According to Lalovic, some of the mines have prospects and some of them do not. He added that this year the government will start bringing order to this company.

"It is good that there are buyers who are interested in those parts of the company which, in our opinion, do not have potential, so by the end of the year we will have a completely clear situation in the company," the Minister explained.

As far as the miners are concerned, the government promised to pay contributions to 205 miners, which will give them the opportunity to retire and thus resolve their social status, the Minister said and added that the government also promised to resolve the problem of tax contributions for the remaining miners by the end of the year.