German Norma will start building a new factory of automotive parts in Subotica in November and employ 327 people once it is completed.

- The agreement on construction of the new factory of automotive parts worth 11.2 million euros was signed today (September 1, 2010) by Minister of Economy Mladjan Dinkic, Norma Group Director John Stephenson, and Subotica Mayor Sasa Vucinic - the Ministry of Economy announced today.

The Government of Serbia will set aside EUR 5,000 for each new employee, while the city of Subotica provides free land for construction.

Dinkic said that the production would commence in July 2011. He said that Norma would start employing the first group of workers in early 2011 and then send them to factories in Poland to complete the training.

Minimum gross salary of workers at Norma will amount to about EUR 400. The new factory will occupy the surface of 12,000 square meters and the entire production will be intended for export.

Source: eKapija

Monbat PLC ceremoniously opened the factory for processing old lead batteries and production of lead alloys in Indjija today. The factory was opened by Atanas Bobokov, the Chairman of the Managing Board of mother company Monbat AD from Sofia, and Bojan Pajtic, the Chairman of the Executive Council of Vojvodina.

So far, over EUR 12m have been invested in the project, and the commencement of trial production is scheduled for September 2010. The factory will employ 70 people and, for the first time in Serbia, an organized system for collecting, keeping and processing old lead batteries will be applied. The technology that will be used represents the state-of-the-arts system in this field of non-ferrous metallurgy. In addition to Monbat PLC, only 11 factories in Europe use similar concept, which implies the use of a closed type of recycling system - no technological water is released. This concept has never been used in this part of Europe, and it should contribute to improvement of ecological conditions.

In order to enable undisturbed trial work, Monbat has fulfilled all the necessary legal obligations set by relevant government organs. All those interested can take a look at the License for waste management on the official web presentation: www.monbat.co.rs

Low-cost airline Wizz Air announced today (September 1, 2010) that it would launch flights to five new destinations from Belgrade.

- Starting December 15th, Wizz Air will be flying from Belgrade to Rome and Malmoe, while the flights from Belgrade to Stockholm, Eindhoven, and Munich will be launched in April 2011 - Wizz Air Director General Joszef Varadi announced at the press conference.

Wizz Air already operates flights from Belgrade to London and Dortmund.

Mr. Varadi said that the company had decided to open an operative base in Belgrade, that is, to have one of its Airbus 320 airplanes stationed in Belgrade. He announced that between 30 and 40 people in Serbia would get jobs in the company in the first phase.

According to Mr. Varadi, the aim of the company is to become the leader in Serbian market. He said that it would contribute to development of Serbian economy in that way.

Mr. Varadi stated that Wizz Air had achieved about 30% better results in the past three years, i.e. ever since the economic crisis had started, and that the company planned to transport 10m passengers by the end of 2010.

Nikola Tesla Airport Director Velimir Radosavljevic said that the number of passengers in August had grown by 20% against the same period in 2009, so that about 359,000 passengers were using that airport in that period.

Source: eKapija

Italian company “Printer Italia srl”, which manufactures cartridges, will start production in September this year in Sremska Mitrovica.

After only three months since VIP Fond has had the first contact with the Italian company, the Italian investor has made a decision to start production in Vojvodina with the company name “Printer&Tec doo” and has already leased the production facility at the entrance of Sremska Mitrovica.

During these past three months, VIP was providing all the necessary support for the realization of this investment, and it will continue to provide the required assistance in all subsequent investment phases. This new Italian company “Printer&Tec doo” will employ 50 workers.

According to the VIP FDI data base, since the first Italian company that came to Vojvodina in 2002, S.F.I.R. sugar producer, there are 25 Italian companies that have set up their business in Vojvodina. They have invested total € 637.55 million and are employing 5,945 people. Biggest Italian investors are "Fondiaria", which has privatized insurance company DDOR, and "Sanpaolo IMI", which has privatized Panonian Bank. Also there are many other Italian companies that are successfully doing business in Vojvodina amongst which are "Pompea", "Fulgar East", and "Calzedonia".

Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia signed a Declaration (July 30, 2010), envisaging the formation of a joint railway company with the aim of speeding up goods transport on Corridor 10.

The Declaration was signed in Belgrade by Serbian Minister of Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjic, Slovenian Minister of Transportation Patrick Vlacic, and Croatian State Secretary of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Danijel Mileta.

The Minister Mrkonjic noted that around 700 trains operated on railway Corridor 10, from Ljubljana, via Zagreb, Belgrade and Dimitrovgrad, to Istanbul. As for Corridor 4, which goes through Hungary and is much longer than Corridor 10, around 7,000 trains are used to transport goods and people there.

If we manage to attract a portion of these trains to our railways, and we will succeed in that if we shorten the travel time from 60 to 35–40 hours, the three states will gain €50 million a year, Mrkonjic explained.

Source: eKapija

The Ministry of Economy and Regional Development of Serbia has issued a call for proposals for the appointment of strategic partner for formation of a business organization with the aim of developing thermal complex in Palić.

According to the Palic Master Plan, the land south of Prezident hotel, in the belt between Palic lake and Youth lake, is reserved for the future tourist complex. The plan is that two building parcels at total surface of 31,275 square meters, defined by the Plan of detailed regulation, be merged.

The minimum share of the Republic of Serbia in total primary capital of the newly formed organization will amount to 15%, while the minimum value of the future partner's investment is 20 million euros. All interested companies shall submit their bids prior to August 23, 2010, at the latest. The banking guarantee for participation in the contest amounts to EUR 50,000.

As Minister of Economy Mladjan Dinkic announced in late April, the state will set aside 100 million dinars for investments in Palic in 2010. In addition to development of infrastructure and revitalization of Big Park and Big Terrace, reconstruction of Women's Strand will also be financed.
Dinkic also announced on that occasion that the Government wanted to bring an operator to be engaged in spa tourism.

Source: eKapija

In four years, foreign investors got EUR 47.3 million through programmes of the Serbian government for attracting investments.

In four years, foreign investors got EUR 47.3 million through programmes of the Serbian government for attracting investments.
Thanks to the programmes, 17,200 working places were created and more than EUR 600 million investments were carried out in Serbia in the period from June 2006 to date.

Motives of investors to come to Serbia are price of labour force lower than in Central European countries, more favourable tax rates, more favourable geographical location and agreements on free trade with Russia, Belarus, European Union and CEFTA countries.

Sources: EMPortal news

German Dunker will definitely move its production of electric motors to Serbia by the end of the year, most probably to Subotica. There is already a complete infrastructure in a production hall at about 1,400 square meters - said the people in Belgrade-based Delegate Office of German Industry and Commerce for Serbia and Montenegro.

German local newspaper Badische Zeitung writes that Dunker CEO Nicolaus Gref said that the crucial argument for such decision was a big difference in the balance of payments between Serbia and Germany.

Gref said that one of the advantages of the production relocation was the fact that other investor in Subotica, company Triton, already had complete infrastructure for Dunker motors in the location where Germans planned to move their units.

- The use of about 1,400 square meters of indoor production space will be quickly enabled. In addition, what is especially underlined is that the city of Subotica belongs to a free trade zone, which means that the future export from Serbia, in spite of the fact that it is not a member of the European Union, will not be additionally burdened by customs duties - Badische Zeitung wrote.

In that way, Serbia, which becomes more and more recognizable in Europe and Germany as a good production location, will soon get a new German investor whose production will be largely focused on export arrangements.

Source: Ekapija

 Altis Chemicals, the company formed by Serbian returnees from Great Britain, has bought a building land in newly opened industrial zone in Zrenjanin to have a production unit for recycling antifreeze and producing oil built on it - the Ministry for Diaspora announced today (August 2, 2010). 

The intention is that major share of production be export-oriented and that the latest equipment and technology in that industrial branch be used in the production. The first phase envisages employment of 50 chemists, technologists and metal workers.

Serbian Minister for Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic pointed out that the new investment in Zrenjanin was "the consequence of active work of the Ministry for Diaspora on informing our people abroad on investment opportunities in cities and municipalities in Serbia".

- The Ministry has prepared DVD `Investment Opportunities in Cities and Municipalities in Serbia`, which includes presentation of 193 profitable investment projects in Serbia, with all the information that are important to investors -  Sreckovic said.

Source: eKapija

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integrations, Bozidar Djelic said yesterday (20th of July, 2010) in Brussels that the European Commission has included in the preparation of the Danube strategy, the Serbian restoration projects of the system Danube-Tisa-Danube, processing of Belgrade wastewater and recovery of the tourism potential of Serbia on the Danube.

Djelic, who was in Brussels, stated after the talks with the European Commission representatives that for the mentioned Serbian projects there will be provided funds from the EU programs until 2013, where some of these projects are worth even 500 million EUR.

He said that the Serbian delegation had presented to the representatives of the Danube countries and the European Commission, the project of building a multimodal center on the Danube in Serbia, which includes the construction of the largest river port between Constance and Vienna.

According to his words, this center will consist of rail, road and air transport facilities and should be built on the stretch between Smederevo, Belgrade and Novi Sad.

Source: eKapija