CONTINUED ASSISTANCE FOR "SIMPO"

21. October 2016.

Vranje, Bujanovac – The “Simpo” Company’s manufacturing units in Vranje and Bujanovac were visited by Milun Trivunac, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Dragan Ugricic, the Assistant Minister of the said Ministry, Sladjana Backovic, the Director of the Development Fund of Serbia and Dejan Vukotic, the Director of the Agency for Insuring Export Financing.

Following the visit, the Secretary of State Trivunac said that members of the delegation were delighted by what they had seen, especially if one took into account the situation in which "Simpo" had previously been.

“The Government of the Republic of Serbia is anxious that the situation should be as good as possible, as "Simpo" is one of the most important economic entities in South Serbia. The Government, the Ministry and relevant state institutions will continue providing assistance to "Simpo", primarily through the Development Fund and the Association for Export Financing, "Secretary of State Trivunac said and thanked the Director and the management of " Simpo "on the thus far achievements.

He also announced the completion of the restructuring process of the Vranje-based company.

“The subsidiaries that have no resemblance to the basic activity of the company, such as "Simpo Flowers", "Kondiva" and others, will undergo the privatization process, so that the company’s core business could be financed. Our goal is to stabilize the company and to settle the outstanding debts to the workers by the end of the year. Also, our goal is to maintain the current number of employees, while when it comes to privatization, we need to find a reliable partner, and there are a lot of them,” State Secretary Trivunac said.

Sladjan Disic, the Director General of "Simpo", said that the company had a lot of work to do, especially the one related to equipping hotels and business premises, as well as a lot of customers from both home and abroad.

“The most important thing is that "Simpo" operates well, that it regularly pay salaries to its employees and settles its financial obligations to the local self-government and local public companies, which makes it is substantially different from the company it used to be two years ago. The company’s employees and the citizens of Vranje can be absolutely sure that "Simpo" will survive and continue operating successfully, especially if it is born in mind that it does so thanks to the assistance provided by the Government and the competent Ministry. The assistance provided by the state consists of low-cost loans, which are repaid in a timely fashion, "said Mr. Disic and stated that" Simpo ", with the help of the Agency for Insuring Exports, repaid 16 million of loans to commercial banks.

Source: ОК Radio and Coordination Body