Siemens to invest EUR 10 million in production in Serbia - Every fourth windmill in Europe powered by generator from Subotica-based factory

Germany's Siemens is going to invest EUR 10 million in its factory for producing windmill generators in Subotica over the next three years, said Ivan Knezevic, the deputy CEO of that company.

Knezevic said at a press conference that another production facility had been added to the two existing facilities at the generator plant in Subotica in the previous year, stressing that the new investment would be made in the improvement of production.

- We hope that other production programs will also be approved in the following period and that even more money will be invested in production - Ivan Knezevic told eKapija.

The factory in Subotica currently employs 650 workers. The average salary at this Siemens plant is 2.5 times bigger than the average salary in Serbia. Although the management would like to have 2,000 employees, Knezevic said to our web portal that there would be no new hirings within the next two or three years.

Over the last five years Siemens has implemented projects worth EUR 415 million, with its exports from Serbia growing at an annual rate of 38 percent. Wind generators from the Subotica-based factory are exported to European and Asian markets, and Knezevic pointed out that "every fourth windmill in Europe is powered by generators made in Subotica."

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Knezevic stressed that Siemens had contributed EUR 20 million to Serbia in the past five years, adding that that company, one of the largest businesses in the world, was also a Serbian company as its production positively affected the economy of Serbia.

The conference at Media Center also saw the presentation of a monograph on the significance of Siemens for Serbia's economic and industrial development since the 19th century until today - "A Step Ahead of Time - 125 Years of Siemens in Serbia," which this company prepared in cooperation with the Institute of Contemporary History in Belgrade. Its authors - Professor Dr. Predrag J. Markovic and Dr. Danilo Sarenac, said on that occasion that the history of that company represented an important part of the history of Serbia's economic development.

The monograph also includes details about the first public steam power plant in Dorcol, first hydroelectric power stations in Uzice, Vucje, Gamzigrad and Ivanjica, first automatic telephone exchange with 1,000 numbers in Novi Sad, electric trams from 1923 as well as the lighting system in the National Theater and other projects in which Siemens participated with its innovative technologies.