28.02.2017.
Press Conference of the Minister of Defence
On the occasion of the participation of representatives of Serbian defence industry and the Ministry of Defence at the 13th International Exhibition of Arms and Military Equipment IDEX 2017 in Abu Dhabi, the Minister of Defence, Mr Zoran Đorđević, and the Acting Assistant Minister of Defence for Material Resources, Nenad Miloradović PhD held today a press conference in the Central Military Club of the Serbian Armed Forces in Belgrade.
The exhibition was an occasion to reflect on the Serbian defence industry position today and on its vision for development by 2020. Minister Đorđević pointed out that the presentation of our defence industry in Abu Dhabi attracted great public attention, but it was significant in terms of the projects planned by the Ministry of Defence and defence industry of Serbia.
- An important precondition for development in this field is the Conclusion of the Government of Serbia, which is expected to be issued soon, on the conversion of defence industry’s debts, which will put it in a much better position, after very long time – Đorđević said and reminded that, when it comes to the current state, all the plants from that line of business are making profit, and they regularly fulfil their obligations towards the state and have no debts, but the debts in question date from the previous period. Another precondition for further development, according to the Minister of Defence, is the Law on manufacturing arms and military equipment, which is soon to be presented in the National Assembly soon, and which is about to introduce many novelties.
- One of the possibilities it will introduce is introducing foreign capital in our defence industry, together with mechanisms that would prevent them from becoming major owners – stressed the Minister adding that there already existed a considerable interest of foreign investors, Chinese, Italian and US companies and the companies of other countries as well.
The Minister underscored that in the period behind us, the perspectives of development of Serbian defence industry had been discussed at the meetings with the President of Serbia, Mr Tomislav Nikolić, and what followed was making strategic decisions about its future.
-At yesterday’s meeting of the Council for Economic Development of Serbia, we concluded that defence industry presented on of the most important segments of the national economy development, and, in that respect, we analysed the trends in that field in past years, as well as the current developments, and what we can expect – said the Minister of Defence and added that it was necessary to be done in order to perceive how much we should invest in defence industry, so that in the years ahead a billion dollars figure could be exceeded in terms of the exports in that field.
Minister Đorđević reminded that in the previous years, the defence industry export earnings amounted to USD 482 million, which should be analysed taking into consideration the fact that in 2012 the figure was USD 153 million, after which it grew year after year, and for this year, the expected amount is around USD 510 million, with an additional remark that, if the level of investment remained as expected, it was supposed that the export in 2017 would be by 20% higher than in 2016.
- The President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia supported the vision for defence industry development, which is necessary for us to promote its potential in a right way in the world – said the Minister.
Đorđević emphasised that in the following period an increase is expected in employment rates within defence industry, and that the plan for that year was to provide 804 new working positions, and to make consolidated FAP Priboj a part of that branch making it more interesting to investors, just like Zastava trucks and Jumko from Vranje.The Minister of Defence explained that Serbian defence industry participated with 0.43% in last year’s gross added value, and the plan for this year was to increase it to 0.45%, while previous percentage in gross domestic product was 0.357, and the plan is to increase it to 0.371 during 2017.
Concurrently with the projection of footage of the 13th International Exhibition of Armes and Military Equipment IDEX 2017 in Abu Dhabi, Acting Assistant Minister of Defence for Material Resources, Nenad Miloradović PhD presented the results of our participation in that event, as well as the current state of defence industry and directions of its development.
Speaking about the position and role of the Sector for Material Resources of the Ministry of Defence, he also reminded about the history of defence industry in our country and its importance for national economy.
- In June last year, the Government supported the vision for development of defence-technological industrial base of Serbia and the Ministry of Defence produced a road map of developmental technologies that are of interest for defence system.
Mentioning agreed and expected business activities in that field and of the Public Company “Jugoimprt SDPR”, Miloradović emphasised that in 2016 the Ministry of Defence had approved export licences for arms and military equipment of the total value of almost USD 933 million, while in the current year, the amount has already exceeded USD 162 million.
- As for investments, about 83.2 million euros of our own resources were invested in Serbian defence industry companies in the period 2013-2016 – Miloradović stated and added that a proposal had been presented to the Government to invest 104 million euros, so when the investment cycle was finished, it was expected that the growth of the overall export potential would be at the level of 72% in relation to the current level.
- The fact of the key interest for defence system is that operational capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces will, thus, be enhanced by means of procurement of domestically manufactured state-of-the-art arms and military equipment which is, at that, even four and half times cheaper than the goods that would be imported. This would at the same time improve the personnel base of defence industry, with additional influx of resources into budget, on all counts – explained the Acting Assistant Minister of Defence for Material Resources.
Miloradović also spoke about the importance of military-economic cooperation for ensuring a sustainable development of defence industry which is conditioned by the increase in export, which will on its part be the result of the investments from our own resources. Joint development of new technologies with the armed forces and ministries of defence of other countries, aimed at reducing costs is as significant as attracting foreign investments.
Commenting on the Exhibition in Abu Dhabi, Miloradović reminded that there were 64 recorded delegations and around 1235 companies which produce arms and military equipment, coming from 57 countries, which provided an opportunity to observe main production trends in that field.
- Apart from “Jugoimport SDPR”, our representatives were Krušik, PPT Namenska, Zastava, Sloboda, Trajal and others, presenting 33 groups of exhibits, while some new projects of Jugoimport and Serbian defence industry were shown for the first time- new 4 wheel drive vehicle “Miloš“, unmanned helicopter “Hortnet”, missile “Šumadija“, „Lazar 3“and other assets which captivated the attention of the visitors.
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