22.09.2014.

Minister Gasic visits Prva iskra in Baric

Minister of Defence Bratislav Gasic with his the associates visited today company Prva Iskra – special purpose production in Baric. On that occasion, Director of that company Stanoje Biocanin presented to him the achieved business results, and what has been done in the reconstruction of buildings destroyed by NATO bombing. Minister was presented the main problems plaguing the operations of the company, especially with unresolved property issues with company "PRVA ISKRA HOLDING IN RESTRUCTURING" and lack of adequate storage space.

On this occasion, Minister Gasic said that "PRVA ISKRA", with a tradition of 75 years, is an extremely valuable part of the defence industry.

-The certificate that the defence industry can be a driving force in the reindustrialization of Serbia is at work in this company, which has average salary amounting to 52,500 dinars and 157 employees. Young people who got a job in the previous period are the tendency of this Government and the Ministry of Defence, Minister Gasic said and pointed out that it is the job of the relevant ministry to help Prva Iskra not only to develop and improve, but also to return a portion of the property that was taken from Prva Iskra special purpose production when it entered in the restructuring of Prva Iskra holding.

- Prva Iskra special purpose production has been operating well over the last three years. This trend could be better so that we slowly become a leader in the production of explosives in Europe, the defence minister said, who arrived to Prva Iskra special purpose production together with the former defence minister and current ambassador to Azerbaijan, Nebojsa Rodic, because that company has signed some of the most valuable contracts exactly with Azerbaijan. According to the Minister of Defence, in the past two years, the export of technology to that country recorded significant results.

The Director General of Prva Iskra said that they used the visit of the Minister of Defence to present the problems of the factory, which is slowly entering a period of renewal and re-gaining the leader's position in the production of gunpowder and explosives.

- We have managed to place our products on the market even before, thanks to the quality. Over the last year we managed to sell two ships of explosives to the United States and three to India, Biocanin said in front of one of the renovated halls in which explosives RDX and HMX will be produced. He expressed the hope that the company managed by him is to expand to the western market in the period to come, because so far their products were placed in Arab and Middle Eastern countries.

Responding to questions from journalists, Minister Gasic said that when it comes to financial opportunities for modernizing the plant Prva Iskra, at the moment it has no credit loans and that it invested more than one million and one hundred thousand euros in the renovation and modernization from its own funds.

- We talked about possibility to provide good credit lines to be able to continue to organise the part that was destroyed in 1999 and Prva Iskra to be back into the market in its full capacity, Minister Gasic said.

When it comes to other special purpose companies, Minister Gasic pointed out that Zastava Arms special purpose production of Kragujevac has most of the problems, and that there will soon be some changes in it.

- We changed the statutes in all companies, coordinated them with the Ministry of Justice, and the results that have been shown by defence industry companies in the past two years are good and show an increase in operation, Minister Gasic said and as an example of bad privatization in the period from 2000 to 2012 he mentioned exactly Prva Iskra where it was allowed, in addition to the very important facilities of the special purpose production, for people and companies who are now seeking compensation after an accident to come.

When asked by reporters whether the export of defence industry has been increased, the Defence Minister said that Serbia uses its chance in time when many defence factories in Europe are closing down.

- Of course, Serbia sees there its chance and so we try to connect with the capacities of the Republic of Srpska, which was one of the topics of the joint session, Gasicć said and added that the conquest of foreign markets is very demanding, but he believes that the special purpose production in Serbia has a bright future.

Speaking about the agreed technology transfer with Azerbaijan, Stanoje Biocanin said that all obligations were fulfilled and only thing that remained was to deliver part of the equipment. He pointed out that the modernization of the factory in progress, and the evidence for it is the plant in which explosives RDX and HMX. will be produced.

When asked how safe the population living near the plant is because of possible frequent breakdowns and is all hazardous materials left behind by the aggression of 1999 removed, Director of Prva Iskra pointed out that the production of explosives is risky, but the disasters happen also in the USA, Russia, China and all countries of the world.

The company Prva Iskra – special purpose production was founded in 1939 on the old plants of the company Vistad, and in 1946 the first production of TNT was started. It is the only national defence industry company engaged in the production, development, regeneration and sale of both military and civilian (commercial) explosives. Their products are designed for industries which use explosives, such as mining, oil and gas industry, metal processing industry, travel industry, and manufacturers of mines and industrial explosives.