20.04.2017.
Prime Minister with representatives of defence industry
The Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic accompanied by the Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic, the Minister of the Interior Nebojsa Stefanovic and the Minister of Economy Goran Knezevic met today in the building of the Serbian Government with directors of the Serbian defence industry companies, the public company “Yugoimport SDPR”, two companies which should become a part of the Serbian defence industry during 2017, directors of three overhaul facilities and the Technical Test Center.
At the press conference held after the meeting Prime Minister Vucic emphasized that thinking about the economic growth of Serbia the Government had decided to allocate substantial funds for the improvement of work of the Serbian Defence Industry factories. As the Prime Minister stressed, the “Zastava Arms” Company in Kragujevac was allocated the greatest amount – 9.7 million euros because it has a wide range of products sought in the world. Those funds will be spent on modernization of the plant for production of barrel.
“Prva Petoletka” will receive 3.5 million euros, and it was agreed that the workers in this factory would get somewhat larger salaries because they have the lowest salaries in the Serbian defence industry together with the employees in “Teleoptik” in Zemun – RSD 36.000 net. Moreover, “Teleoptik” will get 6.862.000 euros after many years of decay. Vucic said that it is a very important factory for the Serbian defence industry because our military industry needs “Teleoptik” devices.
“Sloboda” Cacak will get 2 million euros for two vertical presses, “Milan Blagojevic” Lucani 4.410.000 euros, “Prvi partizan” company from Uzice will get the money for building a new factory because they would like to move their capacities from the underground space.
It was agreed that FAP from Priboj should get 2.5 million euros, and it will get even more from the state if it solves the problem of production of vehicles with independent suspension.
Moma Stanojlovic Aviation Institute will get 4 million euros, the Technical Overhaul Facility Cacak 3 million euros, the Technical Overhaul Facility Kragujevac 2 million euros whereas 1.5 million euros will be invested in the Centre for Testing Arms and Military Equipment of the Technical Testing Centre in Nikinci.
In total, it is around 43 million euros. Vucic said this money is direct investment injection to our defence industry, which did not come from producers but from the state.
“The state can do this when it has healthy finances. I would like to inform you that as at today the Republic of Serbia, that is the budget of the Government, has a surplus of 20.4 billion. We will finish April in surplus, as well. According to the adopted budget of the Republic of Serbia in the National Assembly and the plan of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it is planned to have a deficit of between 53 and 54 billion by the 30th April, and we are not going to have a deficit at all by the 30th April. It means we managed to save 480 million euros during the first four months. It is a good result and due to that we now invest money and encourage the development of our defence industry. If it continues in this way we will have the increase of salaries not only for policemen and soldiers but for the entire public sector and public administration for the first time, which we have not increased in the previous period”, Prime Minister Vucic emphasized.
He said that the state in our defence industry is not so ideal. There are numerous arrears and all companies are burdened by problems, but Vucic thinks this financial injection will strengthen them, increase profit and enable larger salaries for workers. The Prime Minister says that the lowest salaries in “Teleoptik” and “Prva Petoletka” – around RSD 36.000 - will be increased to RSD 40.000. The increase will depend on profit in the future.
At the moment 20.100 people are employed in the defence industry factories, and as the Prime Minister said, it is expected that this sector will be strengthened in the next few years, so that between 27.000 and 28.000 people work in total.
Vucic shared the piece of information that last year the export of arms and military equipment was in value of 483 million dollars, and this year we expect to have between 530 and 550 million dollar export from this branch of industry. The plan is to have at least 750 million dollar export in 2020. In this manner it will become the branch of industry which encourages our export, economic growth of the country and further employment.
