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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Privatisation of 67 large companies starts this year

Belgrade, 17 May 2006

State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of International Economic Relations Vlatko Sekulovic said today that oil company Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) will be privatised by mid-2007 at the latest, after which parts of power supplier Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) will go private as well.

Sekulovic addressed a seminar of the Prague club, organised by the Serbia and Montenegro Export Credit Agency (SMECA) and announced the privatisation of 67 Serbian large companies that will indirectly bring new companies and investors to the Serbian market. At the same time, he expressed expectation that telecom company Mobi 63 will be sold at a good price.

According to Sekulovic, Serbia achieved macroeconomic stability this year, with an economic growth rate of over 6%, 25.9% export growth and 27% import growth, while planned direct investment will be higher than $2 billion.

Also, investments in Serbia totalled nearly $1.5 billion in 2005, around $950 million in 2004, and around $1.3 billion in 2003, Sekulovic said and added that stable economic growth and focus on the economy only can be expected in 2007.

He pointed out that liberalisation of foreign trade leads to its growth and added that it contributed to reduction of the foreign trade deficit by 12% last year. Sekulovic expressed expectation that a regional free trade agreement will be signed in the coming months and that Serbia will become member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2008.