To Russia via Serbia - Committee of Serbian-Russian-Italian entrepreneurs formed

The Committee of Serbian-Russian-Italian entrepreneurs was formed today (February 24, 2010) in the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (PKS) with the aim of attracting Italian investments in production of goods in Serbia for export to the market of Russian Federation.

Serbian Trade Minister Slobodan Milosavljević said that Serbia had not used the advantages of free trade with Russia, primarily because it did not have branded products or sufficient quantities of goods in demand.

- We expect Italian investors to use the base of raw materials in Serbia and quality manpower for production and export of goods to Russian Federation - said Milosavljević.

The First Secretary of Italian Embassy to Serbia, Paolo Toski, pointed out that Italian entrepreneurs were interested in using the advantages of Serbia's Free Trade Agreement with Russia.

(Mihailo Vesović)

- The reason why we have not used the Free Trade Agreement with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan enough is the lack of capacities for production of sufficient quantity of quality products. This cooperation with Italy creates conditions for growth of production, higher quality of products, better packaging process and placement – Mihailo Vesović, the Vice President of PKS, told eKapija.

He said that agriculture, food industry, textile and footwear industry were the most significant fields of economy for attracting the investments from Italy for export to Russian market.

Marina Ružić, SIEPA's adviser, told eKapija that, upon Fiat's arrival in Serbia, numerous Italian companies, Fiat's partners, expressed interest in cooperation with Fiat Automobili Srbija.

(Marina Ružić)

- Italian companies expressed big interest in exporting goods to Russian market. Some of these companies invest in production and export the goods together with Serbian companies. The product for Russian market can be 100% produced in Serbia or only finished in our country, but 51% of the product must be of Serbian origin in order to get the certificate of origin. That is the only way for a product to be exported free of duties – Marina Ružić points out.

It was estimated at the meeting in PKS that the Russian Federation was the most significant market for Serbia's import, import of oil and gas in particular, while Italy was among top three countries of the European Union with which Serbia had the biggest trade exchange.

The President of the Executive Board of the Bank of Moscow in Belgrade, Vladimir Zečar, said that that bank was ready to support the joint projects of Serbian and Italian entrepreneurs that would contribute to reduction of Serbia's deficit in the trade exchange with Russian Federation.