15.07.2022.
Minister Stefanović holds meeting to discuss defence industry
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, has met today with representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Mining and Energy, in an effort to come up with solutions to the problems and challenges faced by our defence industry factories.
According to Minister Stefanović, who spoke to the managers of military factories and representatives of the Independent Metalworkers’ Trade Union last week, it is important for Serbia, especially in these challenging times, that our factories maintain the production of weapons and equipment for the Serbian Armed Forces and continue working on development projects in collaboration with our military institutes.Participants in today's meeting have agreed on a draft conclusion to implement the conversion of debts that the Zastava Oružje Company, Kragujevac, owes to state creditors into the company’s fixed capital. The draft conclusion will be submitted to the Government, while the interdepartmental coordination regarding the Milan Blagojević Company, Lučani, continues.
Recently, similar conversions have been carried out for the following factories - "Prva Iskra-Namenska Proizvodnja", Barič, "Prvi Partizan", Užice and "Prva Petoletka-Namenska", Trstenik, which has facilitated their operations and enabled them to devote themselves to building their capacities and modernizing their plants.The meeting was attended by State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Saša Stevanović, Secretary of the Ministry of Mining and Energy Maja Matija Ristić, Director of the Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs (Serbian Public Electric Utility Company) Ljiljana Jezdimirović and Financial Affairs Director at the "Kolubara" Mining Basin branch, Ljiljana Milošević.
Alongside Minister Stefanović, State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence Branko Živanović, Head of the Defence Minister’s Office Colonel Stevan Kotarlić and Head of the Defence Technologies Department (Material Resources Sector) Colonel Slavko Rakić, also attended the meeting.