Protocol signed on Russian loan for Serbian budget

Serbian Minister of Natural Resources, Mining and Spatial Planning Milan Bacevic and Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak signed Thursday (6 September 2012) a protocol on the Russian loan of $300 million for the Serbian budget in 2012 and another $700 million for the next year. Bacevic told Tanjug news agency that that document contained agreements on several points of cooperation to be elaborated by working groups, as well as the issue of interest on the loan.

The agreements have been reached in principle and their implementation depends on the working groups, the minister explained.

The protocol signed contains Serbia’s offer for the acquisition of Zelezara Smederevo steelworks by a Russian company for USD 1, while the offer for strategic partnership between Russia's Sberbank and Serbia's Nova Agrobanka, presented in earlier talks, was not included in the protocol.

The Minister of Natural Resources, Mining and Spatial Planning said that the talks about Zelezara Smederevo steelworks were expected to be resumed soon, confirming that the potential Russian buyer was a very serious company.

However, Serbia remains open to possible offers from other companies, he pointed out.

By signing the protocol with Novak, Bacevic wrapped up his several-day visit to Moscow.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Vlada Republike Srbije

The Russian Federation Ministry of Industry and Energy Moscow

Agrobanka a.d. Beograd

SBERBANK Rusija

Železara Smederevo d.o.o.