Brnabic: Rio Tinto Has Not Left Serbia, Because It Owns Considerable Amounts of Land

The prime minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, stated last night that the company Rio Tinto had not left Serbia, because it owned a considerable amount of land.

– You can’t take that land away from those people (company). If you do so, you are starting a nationalization. If you are starting a nationalization, then in this country there is no legal security for either investors or legal persons – Brnabic said on TV Pink.

She expressed a hope that the next government would not try to do anything like it either. According to her, the residents of that part of Serbia sold the land to Rio Tinto voluntarily.

– Not one millimeter of land that Rio Tinto owns is a result of expropriation. They offered money, those people sold it. You can’t take away that land – she said.

She said that Rio Tinto had arrived to Serbia slightly before 2004, when, as she claims, the laws on mining had been changed so that those who have exploration rights automatically get exploitation rights.

– Based on that, Rio Tinto could sue Serbia today – Brnabic added.

The president of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Miladin Kovacevic, estimated that, regarding the agreement with Rio Tinto, there were two options – to either break it, if it’s not already broken, or to renew it.

He said that, in the case of international arbitration following the potential breaking of the contract, it would be an expense of “at last half a billion for the state.”

– The second aspect is to create a strong engine of growth, or a strong contribution to growth – a chain from mining to the production of electric cars, where we have industries which plan to produce electric cars. Those are truly incredible financial effects – said Kovacevic.

Brnabic added to that that an agreement “as such” didn’t exist, but that the company had an exploration permit instead, which no one else could get unless Rio Tinto gave up on it itself.

– The state can’t give it to somebody else. We don’t have a contract, but that permit has its weight – the prime minister said.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Republički zavod za statistiku

Rio Sava Exploration d.o.o. Beograd

Rio Tinto Exploration Dunav d.o.o. Beograd

Government of Serbia

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

Rio Tinto

Miladin Kovačević

Ana Brnabić

expropriation