Contract signed with new Zelezara management

Contract signed with new Zelezara management

SMEDEREVO -- Aleksandar Vucic has said that the signing of the contract with the new Zelezara Smederevo management "will directly impact the country's GDP."

The government will have no additional costs, the prime minister said on Saturday, adding that the new management will enter Zelezara as of Monday.

The Zelezara steel mill will become lucrative, salaries will increase and safe jobs will be provided for employees, Vucic told reporters after the signing of the management contract with Dutch company HPK Engineering BV.

The most important point for us is embodied in production increase, Vucic said and added that the output in the plant totalled 65,000 tons in February, the expected output for March adds up to over 80,000 tons and the expected production in April is set at 95,000 tons of steel.

This will significantly impact GDP growth, he said and added that Serbia's 2016 GDP will be higher by at least 0.8 percent than this year's figure.

"This will have the best possible influence on the Serbian economy as a whole," Vucic said.

The contract with HPK Engineering BV as the new management of Zelezara Smederevo was signed in Smederevo on Saturday.

The contract was signed by Serbian Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic, Executive Director Bojan Bojkovic on behalf of Zelezara steel mill and Dutch company HPK Engineering representative Peter Kamaras, and the signing ceremony was attended by Vucic.

The management contract was closed for the duration of three years with the possibility of interruption in case an adequate partner for Zelezara purchase is found.

The ownership over Zelezara Smederevo was transferred back to the Republic of...