Post by zgembo on Oct 3, 2008 14:43:25 GMT -5
GE to sign 400 mln euro deal in Bosnia's Serb half
Fri Oct 3, 2008 8:05pm BST
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[-] Text [+] By Adam Tanner
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - General Electric (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will sign an investment deal worth at least 400 million euros in the Serb half of Bosnia later this month, the region's prime minister said in an interview on Friday.
"We have received a confirmation that General Electric will sign the deal on October 23," Milorad Dodik, prime minister of Bosnia's Serb Republic, told Reuters. "300 million euros will be in the energy sector, and 100 million euros in the health sector."
After the Bosnia war of 1992-95, a peace agreement split the country into a mostly Serb half and a Muslim-Croat half under a federal government.
Dodik has sought to make the Serb Republic the greater lure for foreign investment with lower taxes and streamlined regulation, although some diplomats are wary about rhetoric hinting the region may want to secede.
"The Republika Srpska is one prosperous place for investment. We expect to have far more interest in the future from other investors," Dodik said.
The Serb Republic is also in talks with Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) on future hydro-electric energy projects, Dodik said. The prime minister said the region would not privatise its five existing hydro power stations and two thermal plants but would seek investment in new projects.
He said the Serb Republic had the potential for three new thermal electric power plants, 10 medium-size hydro power plants and 100 smaller hydro power plants.
Many diplomats and observers say the Serb Republic is more business friendly than the rest of Bosnia, although separatist talk introduces an element of political risk into any investment analysis.
"Last year and the year before we started running our programme called a guillotine on regulations," Dodik said. "Out of 2,000 procedures and regulations we are down to 1,000."
Tax on profit was reduced to 10 percent, and other business friendly measures introduced.
Instability on world financial markets will impact the Balkan region's effort to attract foreign investment, the Serb Republic leader said. "We don't think it can be avoided. We understand that potential investors will have reduced funds at their disposal," he said.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
uk.reuters.com/article/basicIndustries/idUKL047275420081003
Fri Oct 3, 2008 8:05pm BST
Email |Print | Reprints
[-] Text [+] By Adam Tanner
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - General Electric (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will sign an investment deal worth at least 400 million euros in the Serb half of Bosnia later this month, the region's prime minister said in an interview on Friday.
"We have received a confirmation that General Electric will sign the deal on October 23," Milorad Dodik, prime minister of Bosnia's Serb Republic, told Reuters. "300 million euros will be in the energy sector, and 100 million euros in the health sector."
After the Bosnia war of 1992-95, a peace agreement split the country into a mostly Serb half and a Muslim-Croat half under a federal government.
Dodik has sought to make the Serb Republic the greater lure for foreign investment with lower taxes and streamlined regulation, although some diplomats are wary about rhetoric hinting the region may want to secede.
"The Republika Srpska is one prosperous place for investment. We expect to have far more interest in the future from other investors," Dodik said.
The Serb Republic is also in talks with Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) on future hydro-electric energy projects, Dodik said. The prime minister said the region would not privatise its five existing hydro power stations and two thermal plants but would seek investment in new projects.
He said the Serb Republic had the potential for three new thermal electric power plants, 10 medium-size hydro power plants and 100 smaller hydro power plants.
Many diplomats and observers say the Serb Republic is more business friendly than the rest of Bosnia, although separatist talk introduces an element of political risk into any investment analysis.
"Last year and the year before we started running our programme called a guillotine on regulations," Dodik said. "Out of 2,000 procedures and regulations we are down to 1,000."
Tax on profit was reduced to 10 percent, and other business friendly measures introduced.
Instability on world financial markets will impact the Balkan region's effort to attract foreign investment, the Serb Republic leader said. "We don't think it can be avoided. We understand that potential investors will have reduced funds at their disposal," he said.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
uk.reuters.com/article/basicIndustries/idUKL047275420081003