Total of 35 potential suppliers from Serbia on Fiat's list

The CEO of the Automobile Cluster of Serbia, Igor Vijatov, said today (December 1st, 2009) that company "Fiat automobili Srbija" had made the list of 35 potential suppliers of car parts from Serbia.

He told Beta agency that "Fiat" had made the list on the basis of the researches that had been done over the previous year, the databases of "Zastava" and the Automobile Cluster of Serbia, and the information provided by the company from Torino, but he said that that did not mean that all Serbian companies would be hired.

- I don't believe that "Fiat" will make the decision on that soon, and I also don't believe that Serbian companies are so prepared that they can start making parts for "Fiat" tomorrow - said Vijatov.

According to his words, Serbian companies want to make parts for the Italian company and they are willing to invest in their businesses if "Fiat" decides to buy their products.

- Potential suppliers of parts for "Fiat" in Serbia do not receive any support from the state, so that we plan to suggest to the Ministry of Economy that a programme should be made for the companies that are on the list of "Fiat", which should make it possible for them to take favorable loans or get some other assistance - said he.

On November 9th, company "Fiat automobili Srbija" signed the first two agreements with Serbian companies on production of parts and equipment for "punto" automobiles - with Kruševac-based "Trayal" and Kragujevac-based company "Promotor-irva".

According to the words of Vijatov, the aim of the Automobile Cluster of Serbia is to help these companies prepare for cooperation with "Fiat" and the world's other large manufacturers.

- It is evident that local companies lack investments, investments in equipment, know-how and other activities related to development of new products - said Vijatov.

In association with German Organization for Technical Assistance and Cooperation (GTZ) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Automobile Cluster of Serbia, which gathers 35 local manufacturers of car parts and five institutions, organized the aid programme this year in order to help the companies introduce the most important quality standard in the field of automotive industry - TS16949:2002.