Djedovic Handanovic: NIS is our strategic resource, only long-term solution is acceptable to Serbia

Photo: MRI

Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said today that the US administration, with the latest license extension until July 31, sent a positive signal to Petroleum Industry of Serbia, NIS, (which is under US sanctions) to continue to operate, and to MOL to negotiate acquiring the Russian stake in NIS, and gave a chance to conclude those negotiations.

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"The latest extension of 30 days shows the willingness of the US administration to really give these negotiations a chance to conclude. Let me remind you, the extension before that was only two weeks, so 30 days is still a longer deadline," said the minister.

Djedovic Handanovic told Radio Beograd 1 that the US administration in that way communicated, "Okay, now you have 30 days, one more opportunity to successfully complete the negotiations".

Djedovic Handanovic stressed that such negotiations are really complex even in regular circumstances when they concern a large energy company like NIS, and added that they are even more difficult in the context of sanctions.

On the other hand, she continued, "everyone is exhausted by this situation".

"I think the most important thing at this moment is to give it another chance. Serbia, for its part, has done everything it could. And indeed, we managed to reach a satisfactory shareholder agreement with the Hungarian company that is also negotiating with the seller. The prerequisite for this is that the purchase and the sale transaction is completed between Gazpromn Neft, meaning the Russian owner, and Hungary's MOL. And then, let's see if we will enter a new era for NIS'," said the minister.

She added that it is important that through these negotiations and the new contract, Serbia managed to improve its position significantly compared to the one created in 2008.

"And that is what is good for our country, for our citizens, for the future of NIS. How everything will unfold in the next three, four weeks remains to be seen. We are certainly in regular communication with all actors and, let me say, we are trying to, through our diplomatic activity, create the conditions for a solution, because to us the only acceptable is a long-term solution," said the minister.

She stressed that NIS is our resource and our asset.

"And why should someone now come from the outside and tell us: You can have it, or you can no longer have it? So, these are two great powers (the US and Russia) that have their own relations, which are unfavorable at the moment, above all of course because of the geopolitical circumstances, but they are talking to each other regardless, and we see that, with the arrival of the Trump administration, they are in touch. Meanwhile everything is happening to Serbia, and for us, NIS is our strategic energy resource, which, of course, we do not want to be left without," she said.

Djedovic Handanovic concluded that "we want to have a refinery and secure supply, but it is very difficult to find a way out of that equation".

(Telegraf Biznis/Tanjug)