17.10.2011.

Minister visits the defense factory in Lucani

Minister Sutanovac and his co-workers visited the factory "Milan Blagojevic – defense industry" in Lucani.

On that occasion, Minister met with the representatives of the company, and then toured the facilities in the factory, as well as plants for producing technological steam and electricity.

The employees in the plants presented in detail the characteristics of the plants to the Minister of Defense and the capacity of new and renewed plants and machines, where they discussed plans for the future

- Today we are in a factory that has doubled production, and exports 2.3 times in the last four years, which testifies that this factory has a bright future after the most difficult period of its existence. This factory has made a comeback to the most demanding world markets - said Sutanovac.

According to the minister, German and American markets are the two most serious, the largest and most demanding markets that demand quality, and price.

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Every day, all the factories provide quality jobs. Tomorrow at a meeting with the factory management and unions we will present a plan on how to proceed with the development of the defense industry. She is one of the most vital and resistant branches of our industry in general. It is obvious that we have markets around the world and if we adopt new technologies we discussed today with the Lucani factory management we will have top quality products, products for the 21st century - the defense minister said, adding that the military-diplomatic activities have contributed to greatly promoting the Serbian defense industry.

- The products of the defense industry that is now highly regarded in the world are the product of our experts and people working for many years in these factories and in our Military Technical Institute. It is our wish to adopt new technologies and be more competitive offering better and more sophisticated products. For example, the most complex product of Serbian industry is the training air craft Lasta and the most expensive product of the NORA Howitzer, which indicates that the military industrial products are of high quality and very demanding - Sutanovac said.

The director of the "Milan Blagojevic – defense industry" in Lucani, Rados Milovanovic said that it is important that the capacities have been increasingly more engaged since 2007, which led to an increase in exports by 100 percent, and the earnings of employees increased by 70 percent.

- We place our products to all world markets, with a great possibility to export to German and American markets, for the first time since the 1988. Minister Sutanovac deserves full credit for this, who has arranged a number of jobs in defense industry - Director Milovanovic said.

The company "Milan Blagojevic-defense industry " AD - Lu?ani of the Serbian defense industry, and today is a well-recognized gunpowder and explosives manufacturer in the world. It operates as a joint stock company of closed type, in which 67.78 percent of equity owned by the state and employs about 1000 workers. The company MB-defense industry exports to 26 countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America. The award for product quality is the strongest argument for good placement on the world market, it was confirmed with a quality management system certificate ISO 9001

Answers to reporters’ questions

When asked by reporters about the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and the position of the Ministry of Defense and the Army of Serbia to the situation in the province, Sutanovac said that the Army would not have engage in any activities towards KFOR, and that they are investing efforts into calming the situation down to the zero level .

- KFOR is in Kosovo to stabilize and maintain peace. Without KFOR in Kosovo, we would be in serious trouble, which would escalate, and it would not go into anyone’s favour. It is necessary to act with composure and self-possession, we must not allow to be drawn into a confrontation with the international community, whether it be with KFOR or EULEX. We must take into consideration what our opponents wish and that is to lure Serbia into starting a conflict with the international community and therefore we must not play into their hands, but must protect our interests, but in a civilized and polite manner. It is important to see how we got into this situation in the first place and to seek a solution based on this.