Ciric: €175 million invested in textile industry

(Nebojsa Ciric)

Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric said Thursday that over €175 million had been invested in the Serbian textile industry with the help of programmes for investment promotion and creation of new jobs.

At the conference Textile Industry in Serbia – Investment Opportunities and Cooperation, organized by the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA), Ciric said that that had enabled the creation of approximately 7,000 new jobs, while the government had supported investors with more than €30 million.

- Textile and automotive industries are the two sectors in the country in which incentives successfully attracted investors and new jobs - he said.

Ciric also said that some 20 German companies, with which the Serbian textile manufacturers had spoken in Frankfurt, had showed interest in investing in Serbia.

As he pointed out, an agreement has also been reached with the Italian company Benetton, which will invest €50 million in Nitex and employ 2,700 people upon completion of the plant`s modernization in 2012. The value of the annual production of that plant is expected to amount to about €75 million, 90 percent of which will be intended for export.

Serbia is facing two key problems that need to be dealt with - the "grey economy" and uncontrolled imports from the People`s Republic of China, said Ciric.

SIEPA Director Bozidar Laganin stressed that Serbia was offering excellent conditions for the export of textile thanks to a large number of concluded free trade agreements.

Laganin also said that large number of investors in the textile industry in Serbia had decided for new investments and expansion of their plants, citing companies Golden Lady and Pompea as examples.

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Agencija za strana ulaganja i promociju izvoza SIEPA

Benetton Srb doo Niš

NITEX d.o.o. Niš

Vlada Republike Srbije

Valy doo Valjevo

Modital d.o.o. Zrenjanin

Ministry of Economy

Nebojsa Ciric

Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency

SIEPA

Frankfurt

Benetton

Nitex

Government of Serbia

Bozidar Laganin

Pompea

Golden Lady