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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Talks on expanding free trade agreement with Russia underway

Belgrade, 27 October 2010

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic stated today that expanding the Free Trade Agreement between Serbia and Russia was discussed during the session of the Intergovernmental Russian-Serbian Committee for Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation in Moscow.

Dacic, who is co-chairman of the committee, said in a statement to Tanjug news agency that he will meet with Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, who is the Russian co-chair of the committee.

He confirmed that during the 9th session of the Russian-Serbian Committee talks on a Russian loan for Serbian railways will resume.

Dacic recalled that Russia has so far agreed to grant Serbia a loan of $200 million to cover its budget deficit. The First Deputy Prime Minister announced that the price of Russian gas for Serbia will also be discussed and whether it is possible for gas to be cheaper.

He outlined that topics of discussion will include joint investment in oil and gas, the South Stream pipeline project, the situation related to oil industry Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), majority owned by Russian Gaspromneft, as well as the reconstruction of the Djerdap 1 hydro plant.

Dacic highlighted that Serbia and Russia should enter a new phase of economic relations, which means joint investment and joint access to third markets.

He added that Serbia has a great capacity for this because it has signed free trade agreements with many countries, whose total population is approximately 800 million inhabitants.

Russia is one of Serbia’s largest foreign trade partners, he said noting that from 2000 until last year, foreign trade between the two countries increased ten times.

He specified that last year, due to the economic crisis, foreign trade amounted to only $2.3 billion, adding that for the first eight months of this year, the exchange amounted to $1.7 billion, indicating that growth will be achieved year-on-year.

The First Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that the Serbian delegation also includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic, Minister of Energy and Mining Petar Skundric and Minister of Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjic.