"Fiat" to pay money on December 28th or 29th

The President of Serbia, Boris Tadić, said yesterday (December 21, 2009), during the visit to "Zastava" that the annex to the contract with "Fiat" on forming of joint venture "Fiat automobili Srbija" would be signed the next day. He pointed out that the Italian company would soon take over Kragujevac-based Automobile Factory and that the decision on that had been made only few days after unblocking of the Transient Trade Agreement.

He said that the signing of the annex to the contract would ensure payment of the Italian company's first investment of 100m EUR by the end of the year, as well as later investments in periodic tranches. That money should be paid on December 28th or 29th.

President Tadić said that Fiat's investment would be accompanied by the arrival of manufacturers of car parts and that large number of local small and mid-sized enterprises would take part in the production of two new models. He said that, while in Torino, he had seen the two new models that would be assembled in Kragujevac while in Torino, but he did not want to reveal how they looked and what their performances were because of the agreement with "Fiat".

- I can not reveal the names of the models because Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of company "Fiat", asked me not to do that - said Tadić and added that the business success of the company in Kragujevac also depended on Fiat's business surprise.

According to Tadić's estimate, the two new models are very good automobiles with fantastic design, and they will make it possible for domestic automobile industry to take a great technological step forward.

- The arrival of "Fiat" will give us a stable, high-quality and highly appreciated automobile manufacturer at global level and a great technological progress, which has already been reached with the production of "punto“. That is the real step forward when compared to the automobiles that used to be manufactured in "Zastava" - said Tadić.

He added that he was informed that "Fiat" planned to have the academy built in Kragujevac for education of new workers and experts who would be employed in the new company. That means that "Fiat" sees that company as one of its most important daughter companies.

The Minister of Economy of Serbia, Mlađan Dinkić, specified that the two new models would be launched in 2011, and he pointed out that the investment by "Fiat" symbolically represented the end of the economic crisis in Serbia because the Italian company had been postponing the investment due to the global economic crisis. He estimated that "Fiat" would be the biggest exporter in Serbia once it reached the full production capacity of 200,000 automobiles per year, worth 2 billion EUR, which represented one third of export in 2009. Dinkić confirmed that the annex would be signed the next day in Belgrade.

FCA Srbija doo Kragujevac

FIAT Torino Italia

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Zastava auto Kragujevac

Fiat automobili Srbija

Fiat

Boris Tadić

Government of Serbia

Mlađan Dinkić

Ministry of Economy

Sergio Marchionne

Zastava

Transient Trade Agreement

Torino

punto