Registration of insurance company Sogaz Srbija in February or March

- The application for registration of the joint venture for insurance services of Srbijagas and Russian Sogaz should be submitted to the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) either in late February or in early March - Srbijagas announced.

According to Srbijagas' announcement, the plan is that the Russian-Serbian insurance company Sogaz Srbija be put in operation in the second quarter of year 2010.

Russian insurance company Sogaz, a part of Gazprom Group, will have the majority share of 51% in Sogaz Srbija, while 49% of that joint venture will be in the possession of Serbian government company Srbijagas. According to Srbijagas, it is expected that between 7.5 and 8m EUR will be invested in the new insurance company in Serbia during the first three years.

All crucial decisions in the joint venture will be made in agreement with both sides.

People from public company Srbijagas say that the company, as a strategic partner of Gazprom in the region, will use this project to start the new form of cooperation and business connection with one of the world's biggest companies.

According to the agreement, Sogaz Srbija will be focused on energy sector, first of all, property insurance and liability risk insurance and, later, voluntary medical insurance.

The first Russian-Serbian insurance company in Serbia will contribute to further improvement of competitiveness in the insurance sector to the benefit of Serbian citizens because Sogaz has the rating of world-renowned agencies such as Standard&Poor`s and Fitch.