IT'S OFFICIAL! Chinese textile giant Guannan is coming to Serbia!

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic said today that the Chinese textile giant Guannan has confirmed it is coming to Serbia and that it will create 3,000 new jobs.

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Mesarovic added that a Shench company, which is already operating in Kragujevac, wants to expand its production and create 300 more jobs.

She stated that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed confirming the future investment by the textile giant.

"It will happen either in Cuprija or in Vranje, which is particularly important to us. Why there? Because we have a lot of available trained workforce for the textile industry. This is one of the world's largest giants in the field of the textile industry out there. A company that normally manages industrial parks where textile companies operate, and which itself owns a textile company that also deals with production of materials, as well as the production of fashion items for major global brands," said Mesarovic.

According to her, they plan to employ more than 3,000 people in several factories in Serbia, in production sites spreading on over 100 hectares of space.

"One of the potential five to six factories that they plan to open in that area will be their parent company, while they will lease the rest to their subcontractors and thus manage an industrial park, thereby attracting new investors," said Mesarovic.

She added that this is great and very important news, bearing in mind that Serbia wants to modernize its textile industry.

"The most important thing is that today we, from this district bring concrete news to Serbia, a concrete investment that will happen. In the next few months, the purchase and sale of land for which the investor has expressed their willingness to buy and start construction will begin. What is additionally important is the fact that the investor who will invest in the construction of the industrial park already has the interest from subcontractors, so the entire investment is completely locked in," said the minister.

Mesarovic added that our country will do everything to follow up on that investment from the first to the last day and make sure it is implemented as soon as possible, bearing in mind that it will directly affect our economy.

What is even more important, said Mesarovic, is that this company produces textiles, silk, and other materials, while the Free Trade Agreement provides precisely for those raw materials to be imported to Serbia, from which clothing items will be made and then exported to the rest of the European market, which are subject to zero customs duty.

"So they absolutely have an interest in exporting the materials they produce to here, using the Free Trade Agreement, and further, when they produce an item of clothing in Serbia, to market it to other markets with which Serbia has agreements. Absolutely everyone sees the interest, and what I would like to highlight, absolutely everyone gains trust in Serbia, in the economic environment, trust in political stability, trust in what Aleksandar Vucic is doing when it comes to our country," said Mesarovic.

The minister stressed that all this is being realized thanks to the relationship between the two presidents, Aleksandar Vucic and Xi Jinping, and the Free Trade Agreement.

Mesarovic added that there is more good news, which is the confirmation from a company that already operates in Kragujevac and already employs 220 people - Shenchi - which has been operating here since 2021 and wants to expand its operations.

"They want to purchase up to 30,000 square meters of land, where they will build a new plant and plan to employ up to 300 people, so that investment is also certain. We are in touch with our colleague in Serbia and we are working intensively on finding land that we need to secure as soon as possible for this company, because they asked us to do so,so that they could start construction as soon as possible," she added.

Mesarovic said that while visiting China this week, a Serbian delegation has been promoting our businesses and their products, so that they can be found on the shelves throughout the country.

"Today, in the second part of the day, we also held two business forums concerning direct contact with other business entities that want to invest in Serbia, and what I would like to point out in particular are the companies that have not been invited either by us, nor the management of the municipality of Keqiao, they are the companies that came forward on their own, stating they wanted a meeting with the (Serbian) Ministry of Economy, in order to get as many details as possible about the Free Trade Agreement and the economic environment in Serbia, bearing in mind that their friends and partners are consistently investing in Serbia," she said.

Mesarovic added that during those forums she presented the economic potential of Serbia and all the advantages that can be gained through future cooperation.

"I presented the economic environment of our country and what the competitive advantages are, but also the Free Trade Agreement itself, which really makes us special and unique on the European market. We expect a large number representatives of companies to visit Serbia as soon as in December, and I am convinced that we will soon have news about fresh investments," Mesarovic said.

During the visit, an agreement on the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Economy and the Guannan Group.

The minister also spoke with the mayor of Shaoxing, Wu Den-yih, who said that she was honored to host the Serbian delegation and present this municipality.

"I want to welcome all our Serbian friends. Shaoxing has 5.6 million inhabitants, and it is well connected by road and air lines with other places. We have an annual growth of 6.8 percent. Our economy is constantly growing and developing," the mayor added.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)