Mladjan Dinkic, finance minister - Etihad delegation coming to Belgrade on April 15th to talk about partnership with Jat and cargo center construction in Surcin

(Dinkic in Abu Dhabi)

Finance and Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic stated Friday that a delegation of the UAE airline Etihad was coming to Belgrade on April 15th, when a direct service between Belgrade and Abu Dhabi was expected to be launched, along with talks about strategic partnership with Jat Airways and the construction of a cargo center in Surcin.

Dinkic also announced that he was going to have negotiations later that day with the representatives of one of the largest steel manufacturers on strategic partnership with Zelezara Smederevo steelworks.

Speaking about the future of Jat Airways, Dinkic told the national broadcasting corporation RTS that the plan was to let Etihad assume the management of Jat for a period of five years, with the possibility of extending that period for another five years, in which case that airline would acquire a minority stake in Jat of up to 49 percent.

Etihad representatives will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Serbian government during their stay in Belgrade, Dinkic said and explained that that meant that Etihad would renew Jat's fleet and use some services to European destinations.

Dinkic noted that about EUR 100 million would be invested this summer in agricultural companies and the construction of five animal feed factories by the Al Dahra company from the United Arab Emirates, adding that Arab investors also planned to have a factory for producing irrigation and greenhouse equipment built in Serbia.

Investors from the Emirates are coming to Serbia in mid-April to sign an agreement on the construction of the Port of Pancevo, and are also interested in recapitalizing the Jugoslovensko Recno Brodarstvo (Yugoslav River Shipping) company in order to make it possible to buy new ships and hire new people at local shipyards, Dinkic announced.

Dinkic announced negotiations that should result in the approval of another USD 400 million from the Abu Dhabi Development Fund, in a form of a 20-year loan, for the construction of irrigation canals, whereas a half of that amount (USD 200 million) would be made available to farmers through 10-year loans for various purposes.

During his recent visit to Abu Dhabi, Dinkic first talked with the representatives of the Abu Dhabi Investment Fund, which handles USD 1.3 trillion (USD 1,300 billion) in assets, and one day later he had a phone talk with the owner of Manchester City Football Club and another investment fund, who expressed a wish to talk about investment in Serbia.

The finance minister said that his idea was to attract more investment in our country in addition to those of USD 250 million in the military industry and of USD 800 million in agriculture, adding that UAE authorities were aware that oil was not going to last forever and that they should invest in profit-making projects.

When it comes to the restart of production at Zelezara Smederevo, Dinkic indicated that Fiat was ready to buy "a serious amount of sheet metal for cars" from the steel mill in Smederevo, not only for the factory in Kragujevac, but also for the one in Italy, provided that its quality was good and that its price was competitive. He also added that the financing of the construction of a sheet metal production line was being negotiated with the manufacturers of iron and coke ores.

A permanent solution is to find a strategic partner for Zelezara Smederevo, Dinkic said and announced he was going to have negotiations with the representatives of one of the largest steel manufacturers that day, but he did not want to reveal the name of that company.