President: Serbia will keep free trade agreement with Russia

President: Serbia will keep free trade agreement with Russia

VIENNA -- Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić talked in Vienna on Thursday afternoon with representatives of major Austrian companies that are present in Serbia.

Nikolić talked with members of the managing and executive boards of Strabag, Porr, Erste Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Kapsch, UNIQA, assuring them that Serbia will keep the free trade agreement with the Russian Federation, which is a big opportunity for investors.

In the period when EU-Russia relations are going through a rough patch, Serbia will keep its completely neutral position, Nikolić said.

"That is our chance, and yours," he told representatives of the firms that have investments in Serbia amounting to over EUR 500 million and hiring around 6,000 people.

"Serbia carried out the privatization very quickly, and very poorly, but that is past now," Nikolić said, adding that a new government will have a fund for subsidizing investments, both domestic and foreign ones.

He noted that the talks had begun on Serbia's accession to the EU, and that they are unfolding at a pace set by the EU.

Nikolić said that Serbia could become an EU member state for six or eight years, but that EU accession talks guarantee to investors that the Serbian legislation will get better day by day.

He announced that the Serbian authorities will drastically speed up the administrative procedure relating to investments, adding that so far the investments in infrastructure had been backed, but that now investments in the economy will constitute a priority.

"I am sure you had a chance to learn first-hand that our workers are highly qualified, that they are in need of work...