December 22 (SeeNews) - The owner of United Arab Emirates-based cigarettes maker BMJ Industries FZ said the company plans to invest 18 million euro ($21.3 million) in Montenegrin tobacco group Novi Duvanski Kombinat (NDK).
BMJ Industries FZ has invested 18 million euro in NDK so far and plans to double that sum after the Montenegrin company restarts production activities, Ahmad Bkairat said in a video file posted on the website of Podgorica-based public broadcaster RTCG on Thursday.
"We are ready to start production tomorrow. We have everything ready - a factory, machinery and raw material. However, we still wait for a permit," Bkairat said in the video file, speaking through an interpreter.
NDK will first start with cigarette production and will begin processing tobacco a year later, Bkairat added.
The Montenegrin company is expected to start production activities in February with 53 employees. Under the plan, it will produce 3 billion cigarettes annually, RTCG said.
In February 2016, the Montenegrin government signed a contract for the sale of NDK to BMJ Industries FZ. Under the terms of the deal, the investor will put in 20 million euro to recapitalise NDKP, with the bulk of the resources to be invested in the construction of a new factory.
($=0.8436 euro)