BELGRADE (Serbia), March 30 (SeeNews) – Serbia's economy ministry has said HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel, a subsidiary of China's Hebei Iron & Steel Group, or Hesteel, is considering new investments, given the excellent results of the privatisation of steel mill Zelezara Smederevo.
"The successful business in Smederevo is one of the reasons why we have decided to think about the possibilities for a new kind of cooperation," the economy ministry quoted the chief investment officer of the Chinese company, Yang Guiqing, as saying in a statement on Thursday.
HBIS is a stable partner and has proven this through its investment in Zelezara Smederevo, Guiqing said during a meeting with the state secretary at the economy ministry, Dragan Stevanovic.
Serbia is a politically stable country and has numerous bilateral free trade agreements allowing duty-free exports to a population of a billion people, Stevanovic said.
In July, Serbia's economy ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with HBIS for the development of an industrial park in Smederevo.
HBIS took over the management and ownership of Zelezara Smederevo in July 2016 after the government agreed to sell the steel mill to the Chinese group for 46 million euro ($56.7 million) three months earlier.
($ = 0.811375 euro)
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