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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Government will assist in the recovery of 11 Kosovo companies with new investments

Zvecan, 20 February 2008

Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic announced today that the Serbian government will assist in the recovery of eleven socially-owned companies in Kosovo-Metohija with new investments.

Mladjan Dinkic, center, during a visit to the Trepca mining and smelting basin

Author: Fonet

Dinkic pointed out during his visit to the Trepca mining and smelting basin near Zvecan that the aim of the Serbian government and this Ministry is to employ more people and thus safeguard their existence in the southern Serbian province.

He said in a meeting with Trepca management and local businesspeople that the government and the Ministry will insist that the process of privatisation in the southern Serbian province, after production is restored, is carried out through the Serbian Privatisation Agency.

The minister said that by the end of next week, Serbian companies in Kosovo-Metohija will be given emergency aid ranging from RSD 500,000 to RSD 5 million, depending on the number of workers they employ.

Companies that employ up to 50 workers will be given RSD 1 million in subsidies, the factories that employ up to 100 workers will be given up to RSD 2.5 million, while the companies employing over 100 workers will receive RSD 5 million.

The aim of the Serbian government and the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development is to establish full economic sovereignty over parts of Kosovo-Metohija populated by Serbs, and to employ as many people as possible so that they can remain in the province, Dinkic explained.

He said that those economic measures are just part of the government's action plan for assisting Serbs in the province with the role of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development being the revival of production and reduction of unemployment, Dinkic also announced a series of concrete economic measures for reviving production at Trepca, which currently employs around 1,200 workers. He said that the idea is to increase the number of employees by reviving production, then to restructure the basin, and finally for it to be privatised by the state of Serbia.

According to him, the state will invest in the purchase of appropriate equipment for the mines near Leposavic – Belo Brdo and Crnac, which are part of Trepca, in order to improve the exploitation of minerals, working conditions and employee benchmarks.

Representatives of Serbian companies from Kosovo-Metohija familiarised the minister with the problems they are facing, which include a lack of funds for starting production, limited markets, and the dangers workers are faced with.

They expressed satisfaction with the support promised by the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development and added that those measures will contribute to reviving the economy, strengthening economic ties with Serbia, increasing employment and the survival of Serbs in the province.

Dinkic also talked today with municipal presidents in northern Kosovo-Metohija, heads of districts and government coordinators from the Serbian enclaves about the future activities of his Ministry.

He specified that the economic part of the Action plan has four items, which all centre on economic development and opening new jobs so that Serbs in the southern Serbian province can stay and live there.

According to Dinkic, the first item in the plan points to the integration of all socially owned enterprises in Kosovo-Metohija into the economic system of Serbia.

Subsidies for socially owned companies will be paid out regularly from March this year, pledged the Minister, and added that one of the goals of the Privatisation Agency in the near future is ownership change in socially owned enterprises in Kosovo-Metohija.

The development of agriculture and private enterprises is the second item in the Action Plan, which aims to facilitate economic development and create more jobs, said Dinkic. He announced that two programmes will be urgently implemented – organisation of public works on all territories inhabited by Serbs and incentives for self-employment in Kosovo-Metohija.

He said that the general development of entrepreneurship in Kosovo-Metohija is the third item in the plan. He added that a regional office of the Serbian Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Entrepreneurship will be opened in the northern part of Kosovska-Mitrovica, with branch offices in Kosovo Pomoravlje.

Dinkic said that enterprises in Kosovo-Metohija will be funded from a special part of the Serbian budget, and loans will be issued under very reasonable conditions, and start-up loans worth up to €15,000 will be provided without the need to mortgage.

Loans for existing tradesmen’s shops will be distributed in equal amounts under the same conditions, he explained. He pointed out that for existing SMEs loans up to €30,000 will be available, which will have to be guaranteed with a mortgage equal to half of the amount borrowed.

According to Dinkic, entrepreneurs in Kosovo-Metohija will be given access to all fairs in the country and abroad, various training programmes, and all possible help in the organisation of private business.

The development of tourism is also envisaged by the Action Plan, said the Minister and added that during the next fortnight the government will make a decision on the formation of a new company which will comprise of the public company Skijalista Srbije and the company Inex Intereksport, and will take control of all real estate and management rights to the ski-centre at the Brezovica mountain resort.

He stressed that the problem of electricity supply in the municipality of Strpce must be urgently addressed with the construction of a small hydroelectric power plant for the region.

The Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, in cooperation with the Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija will work on improving local infrastructure in areas inhabited by Serbs in Kosovo, said Dinkic. He specified that these activities will mainly cover the water supply and sewage systems.