|
|
|
|
2013-03-21 00:00:00
|
In an interview from Jasna Matic, Special Advisor to the Minister for Competitiveness and Knowledge Economy, Ministry of Finance and Economy, by SIEPA state that ICT has been one of the industries with the strongest growth in the past years not just globally, but also in Serbia. Information technology has in the past couple of decades influenced all aspects of our lives and has affected almost all other sectors of economy. ICT has already changed and is still changing existing business models and almost all businesses and whole sectors now rely on IT for increases in productivity and efficiency. With broadband becoming the key infrastructure of our time, ICT is sure to continue to grow in the whole world for years to come. At the same time, for the most part, ICT requires far smaller initial investments than other sectors. ICT sector offers an increased number of high-quality, well paid jobs, and all forecasts project a global shortage of experts in the sector. These facts, together with Serbia's existing capacity in the ICT sector, are reason enough for the Government to support it and impel Serbian economy towards high value adding, knowledge based economy.
What does the program for support contain?
The program aims to support four basic segments of the ICT industry:
Start-up;
Outsourcing;
Development and export of original software products;
Development centers of large multinational companies.
We already have very successful examples in all four segments, but in very limited numbers. The aim of the support measures is to help increase the number of successful companies in all of these segments.
Specific measures entail:
Support for IT entrepreneurship and start-up projects
Tax incentives for software companies
Support for exporters of software products and solutions
Improvement of the legal framework
Improvement of the system of education
A. Support for IT entrepreneurship and start-up projects
Grants for start-up projects
The main objective of this component of the program is to support and strengthen technological start-up ecosystem in Serbia.
€20 million financing to restart production at ABS Sisak
Author(s): Axel Reiserer
Date: 18 March 2013
Source: www.Ebrd.com
The EBRD is supporting the efforts to restart production at the steel factory in Sisak in central Croatia. The location has a long history of steel operations and has been a major employer. The Sisak Ironworks have been acquired by the Italian company Danieli and their steel company ABS, currently embarking on a restructuring and modernisation programme which the EBRD is supporting with a €20 million loan.
The plans include the restoration of the plant’s capacity to fully integrate the operations in Sisak into the production chain of the parent company. Sisak will produce semi-finished steel products that would then be transported either to ABS main facilities in Udine, Northern Italy, or further to German and other markets.
ABS, a European leader in special steels, is a subsidiary of the Danieli group, one of the global leaders in supplying steel plants. ABS is a leading supplier of steel for the automotive and power sectors.
The Sisak plant was, among others, chosen because of its good transport connections with ABS’s major customers. It was previously owned by US CMC, which acquired the plant in 2007 and operated the plant until 2011, introducing certain new investments in steelmaking.
Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Director for Croatia and Hungary said: “This investment provides a stimulus to high value steel production in Croatia. The EBRD is strongly behind efforts to strengthen the industrial basis of Croatia through the promotion of competitive and efficient companies and the mobilisation of its strong engineering tradition. We are especially pleased that the investment programme in Sisak will result in significant environmental, energy and resource efficiencies.”
Alessandro Brussi from Danieli added: “ABS Sisak will operate in Croatia with the same quality and competitiveness already achieved by ABS in Italy for a long time. We are very pleased to have the EBRD as a reliable and committed partner in the internationalisation of the Danieli Group.”
The EBRD has been active in Croatia as an investor since the country’s independence and to-date has invested more than €2.5 billion in some 140 projects. The Bank’s activities cover all sectors of the economy and are especially strong in infrastructure, corporate, financial institutions and energy. |
|
|
