Serbia’s 120 and Russia’s 100 businesses were present at this forum. Participants’ special attention was dedicated to the address by the CEO of NIS, who presented not only his company, but also the potential of Serbia’s economy, with a view to further strengthen the cooperation between Russian and Serbia. Serbia’s 120 and Russia’s 100 businesses were present at the forum. Mr Kravchenko took this opportunity to acquaint the participants with NIS development since 2009, when Gazprom Neft became its majority shareholder and of the future business plans. He pointed out that NIS is currently Serbia’s largest company, ranking among Europe’s 10 top, employing more than 11,000 staff members, among them experts from 25 different countries. NIS is also the biggest Serbia’s exporter. Speaking of NIS as a good example of investors’ confidence and justified expectations, Mr Kravchenko made a special mention of the fact that 2.5 billion Euros have been invested in the company since the arrival of the majority shareholder, and that the hydrocarbons reserves were increased by 50 per cent. The company’s refining has been streamlined, making possible the production of Euro 5 quality fuel. Other than that, in the aftermath of privatisation the retail network has been modernised, the Company started to bring its business to other regional countries and it has been gradually transforming from oil and gas business into a power-generating holding. In Mr Kravchenko’s words, in the years to come NIS envisages investments to the tune of a billion euros, most important being: creation of Deep Conversion Unit in Pančevo, Plandište Wind Farm and Combined Heat and Power Plant in Pančevo. Mr.Kravchenko presented not only his company, but also the potential of Serbia’s economy. Speaking of Serbia’s investment potentials, NIS CEO pointed out this country’s political and macroeconomic stability, clear prospects to join the EU, a vantage geographic location and professional, highly educated specialists. With particular reference to Serbia’s attractive investment climate, Kravchenko praised this country’s developed road infrastructure, competitive tax system and a notable trend of investors’ increasing confidence into state agencies.
Medvedev: NIS as Russia Serbia cooperation success story
A special mention was made of NIS following the meeting of Serbia’s Government President, Aleksandar Vučić, and Russian Federation Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. At a press conference, Russia’s Premier told the journalists that power generation is the best example of two countries pooling efforts in major infrastructure project, pointing out that NIS, as a Russian-Serbian company, is poised to become region’s leader. “Another efficient way of our relations development is big infrastructure projects that came under elaborate discussions at today’s meeting. We have many such projects with Serbia, predominantly power generation ones. One of the most successful examples is the positioning of our joint enterprise NIS in the leading position in the Balkan region, which is supported with the settlement of the issues concerning debts, and various other problems plaguing the company in the previous period. We take special pleasure in this. We hope that it will prove to be a highly efficient and interesting project. The Company is involved in exploration, refining, petro chemistry. Once a loss-making company, it currently, to my knowledge, provides 14 per cent of revenues for Serbia’s state coffers, - said Dmitry Medvedev.NIS and SBERBANK sign cooperation agreement NIS signed a Cooperation Agreement with SBERBANK, Serbia At the Serbian-Russian Moscow Business Forum, NIS signed a Cooperation Agreement with SBERBANK, Serbia, with a view to further step up and strengthen their strategic cooperation. The Agreement was initialled by NIS CEO Kirill Kravchenko and Valery Ovsyannikov, Sberbank Serbia Executive Board Chairman.
