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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Better export conditions for wood industry announced

Belgrade, 13 December 2007

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic met with exporters in timber industry today and briefed them on the government’s activities aimed at improving exports and the amount of funds set aside from the budget for financing and promoting export.

Bozidar Djelic

Djelic and representatives of exporters discussed possibilities for improving the VAT export refund system, simplifying customs procedures and issuing guarantees for export loans based on the same principle as housing loans.

During the meeting, they concluded that Serbia has huge potential for the development of the timber industry, but that the key problem is the lack of raw materials in the domestic market.

This is the result of difficulties which private forest owners are faced with, fragmentisation of companies in this sector and investment-related limitations imposed on public companies.

Djelic and his collocutors agreed that export products should be finalized to a greater degree and the production process made more specialised.

Djelic and representatives of public companies Srbijasume and Vojvodinasume agreed to draft a plan to certificate forests, as well as to cooperate with the line ministry and increase activities on improving the quality and quantity of these raw materials in Serbia.

Together with the resource ministries and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, a working group will be formed to analyse the current Serbian Forestry Development Strategy and propose a middle-term development plan for the timber industry.

Today’s meeting is the first in a series of meetings which the Deputy Prime Minister’s cabinet will organise in the upcoming period with representatives of the chemical, textile, machine and furniture industries and agriculture. The next meeting with representatives of the timber industry has been scheduled for end-March next year.