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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement on visa relaxations and readmission to be signed by end-year

Belgrade, 26 April 2007

Serbian Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo said that the government adopted at its session today the Information on final negotiations between Serbia and the European Union on concluding the agreements on visa relaxations and readmission, and that the EU accepted Serbia's objections concerning certain provisions of these agreements.

Predrag Bubalo at today's press conference

Speaking at a press conference held after the government session, Bubalo said that the EU accepted Serbia's objection concerning the acceptance of citizens of third states who entered the EU illegally through Serbia and added that in case of their return to the country of origin, Serbia will only be the country of transit.

He said that these two agreements will soon be initialled and signed by the end of the year, so visa relaxations will be introduced for certain categories of citizens by the beginning of next year.

The Minister stated that the government adopted the Information on continuation of construction of a highway from Leskovac to Presevo which is part of Corridor 10. The government will soon bring a decision concerning the tender for providing consultancy services and inspection of project documentation for construction of that section of the road.

Also, the decision from 2005 on criteria for determining the customs contingent for import of certain goods was amended. This decision gave the basis for cooperation of Zastava with Fiat and Opel.

Since cooperation with Opel has not taken root, as opposed to Fiat, the new amended decision specifies which parts for Opel cars will be imported duty free and then assembled in Zastava's production plants. The Minister said that as of next year, two Opel models will start to be assembled in Kragujevac, one of which is the Astra Classic.

The government also adopted the Information on termination of the contract of privatisation of the Bor mining and metallurgical complex (RTB Bor) with Romanian company Cuprom. Bubalo said that a strategy for continuation of privatisation of that company will soon be adopted and that the state will assist this process with subsidies.

The Minister said that privatisation of this company was well prepared, which is proven by the fact that none of the three first-ranked bids was below €266.7 million, noting that RTB Bor’s debts exceed the company’s assets.

The company must continue with its production in order to settle due debts, and realisation of the environmental project in Bor should continue in cooperation with the World Bank, Bubalo said.

He also said that tomorrow Serbia and Russia will sign an agreement on clearing debt, which was initialed in Moscow on December 13, 2006.

The government today passed a Decree on milk premiums for January-June 2007 period as well as the Decree on using funds for animal insurance for January-June 2007 period, Bubalo said.

Also, the Decree on using funds for crediting food makers for the period from January to June 2007 was adopted today, according to Bubalo.

Bubalo said that everything is developing according to the planned Law on interim financing.

He also said that the government decided to establish a special hospital for internal diseases in Vrnjacka Banja.