Mesarovic: Serbia offering stable environment and is dependable automotive industry partner

BUDAPEST - Serbia is offering competitive business conditions, a stable and predictable environment and is already recognised as a dependable partner in the automotive industry, Serbian Deputy PM and Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic told an automotive industry conference in Budapest on Thursday.

"In the past years, Serbia has been working systemically on creating a stable and competitive investment environment for developing this sector," Mesarovic said at the conference, also addressed by Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto.

Thanking Szijjarto for inviting her to the conference, Mesarovic said Serbia and Hungary had highly developed political and economic relations, as well as that bilateral cooperation had reached an all-time high in recent years and that strong economic ties were an important pillar of stability and development in the entire region.

She said she believed Serbia and Hungary, under the leadership of President Aleksandar Vucic and PM Viktor Orban, would become the drivers of strength and development in their part of Europe.

"Our two countries need to be what they have decided to be - economically strong and politically sovereign states. That is why today we are not only building an economic partnership but shaping a joint area of stability, progress and a safe and peaceful future for generations to come," Mesarovic noted.

She said she believed the two countries were able to build a sound and stable supply chain in the automotive sector thanks to their geographic proximity and good infrastructure ties.

Mesarovic said that, since 2012, Serbia had implemented more than 135 automotive industry projects with planned investments of around 5 bln euros and more than 64,000 new jobs.

She said that a Fiat Automobili Serbia plant, a part of the Stellantis Group, was the largest and the most important investment in the sector and that it had brought other significant investments and encouraged many autoparts manufacturers to start operations in Serbia.