Mali: Arrival of Japan's JFE Shoji indicator of Serbia's progress

INDJIJA - Serbia's caretaker First Deputy PM and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali attended the opening of a JFE Shoji Serbia plant in the industrial zone of the town of Indjija, northwestern Serbia, on Tuesday.

Mali said the opening of the plant - JFE Shoji's first-ever in Europe - was an indicator of Serbia's progress in the past 12 years as the Japanese company was an "extremely important" investor.

"I am very honoured that we have another major investment in Indjija and Serbia. When you see this space and all the new machines, and products that will be built into households, as well as into cars, you see how much Serbia has changed in the past 12 years and that it is one of the three fastest-growing economies in Europe," he said.

On behalf of President Aleksandar Vucic, he thanked JFE Shoji for its trust.

"I am glad you are satisfied with working with us. For us, it is important that we are good hosts and that we keep our promises. This investment amounted to over 50 mln euros and we will have 70 employees by the end of the year. Once all production halls are filled with machines, we will have more than 200 employees," Mali said.

Japanese Ambassador to Serbia Akira Imamura said he hoped the new plant would help Serbia's further economic development.

He said the investment was a result of a favourable investment environment in Serbia as well as of strong leadership by the country's president.