05.04.2012.

Minister visits 'Prva petoletka" in Trstenik

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, along with Assistant Material Resources Ilija Pilipovic, Deputy Chief of general Staff Major General Milan Bjelica and their associates, visited the factory for the production of defense products " PPT Namenska" in Trstenik.

On that occasion, Sutanovac met with the director of the company Nenad Trifunovic, after which they visited the research and development center and prototype workshop where they were presented with devices, capacities and facilities.

This is the first visit of the Minister of Defence to this factory specializing n defense products in Trstenik. On this occasion, the factory director Nenad Trifunovic presented the Minister with an acknowledgment scroll.

During the tour of the plant, Sutanovac said that the company is very important for the defense industry of Serbia and the first visit of the Minister of Defense in the 63 years of existence of this plant is of great importance.

The fact that no minister of defense has not visited the factory before and that this is the first visit shows that we are interested in this aspect of defense industry, especially in overall reindustrialization of our country's defense minister said, adding that without this factory there is no airline industry in Serbia, the work of "UTVA" would not be possible nor the overhaul or repair of tanks.

- What I saw in the "PPT Namenska" is much better than what I expected, because the plant is in very good condition and I expect it to fulfill the plans that we have now set up, with hope that the factory would increase the number of employees. It is important to say that after many years of hitting a stale mate, the company now has customers in both east and west, and meeting the needs of both civilian and military programs which is very important in terms of competitiveness. It is up to us to try to create more opportunities for this plant and the entire defense industry to export more especially abroad, as the minister remarked hinting that the time behind us was marked with a large number of defense industry refusing to be part of the defense production, while today such factories as the factory as "PPT-Namenska", "UTVA" and others, want to return the entire system of defense industry, which bespeaks of their confidence in the Ministry of Defence.

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Of course I would like to emphasize that in the past four years we had made a great breakthrough in foreign markets from Indonesia to Canada , as for three consecutive years defense industry had exported some $ 250 million worth of products. This year we plan to export 275 million dollar worth of exports, which indicates that the factory has a future, however we have to modernize and procure certain machinery and tools, Minister said noting out that there is was a general interest of the state to keep this a state owned company, so the Ministry of Defence and Ministry economy will do what it takes to plan and accomplish what has been agreed upon today not only in the factory but also in other factories.

- We want this plant to be back on its feet and it is extremely important to make it part of the production chain in Serbia. It happened that some factories are buying machines abroad, knowing that these machines can be made here in Trstenik, and I think it's time for us, said the defense minister.

Factory director Nenad Trifunovic said that the Acknowledgement Plaque presented to the minister ensued as a result of many years of good cooperation with the Ministry of Defence.

- We took this opportunity to talk about our obligations we have towards our country, we expect that the make conversion of the debt , perhaps we will discuss recapitalization of the debt and thus the state becomes the majority owner of the factory "PPT-Namenska ". We want to get involved in the production of weapons and military equipment for our country where there are six such factories, and we expect to become the seventh, which could happen as early as this month, said Trifunovic.

During the visit to Trstenik, Defence Minister met with the Mayor Stevan Djakovic.

"PPT-Namenska" was founded in 1972 as part of the factory hydraulics and pneumatics "Prva Petoletka". The first products made in it were the aircraft landing gears, soon after it began production of other hydraulic and pneumatic components.

Today the main products of this factory are developing and manufacturing a variety of hydraulic, pneumatic, servo-components and other devices for military and civilian market: air landing gear, engines, hubs, cylinders, fuel components, servo systems, different types of pumps, motors and valve, mortar shells, air rifles, ground equipment and more.

The "PPT-Namenska" plant is moreover used for the overhaul, maintenance and testing products of other manufacturers, offers repair services, maintenance and testing, surface treatment and heat treatment.

ANSWERS TO REPORTERS’ QUESTIONS

Asked about the future of the factory of importance for the military, the defense minister said that 90% of factory’s products are exported abroad and with the support of the Ministry of Defence, by buying local products, a symbiosis of interest was created, between factories and the defense system.

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I remind you that in previous years we allocated a large sum of money for research and development of weapons and military equipment, there are a number of new products that are on the domestic and foreign markets, and I am sure they will have customers. It is important to say that once devastated and completely destroyed defense industry since 1999 when its sustained major damage, Serbia today, with tens of thousands of employees in this industry exports products worth about $ 250 million and it is one of the largest exporters in relation to the number of employees, the minister said minister.

He added that the decision to put the defense industry under the auspices of the State, has already been made as MoD is concerned, however MoD is the only factor that decides.

- At this point it would the state would have no costs, because there is a debt that can not be collected. The factories which in 2006 and 2007 were on their last legs are now exporting large quantity of arms and military equipment, all thanks to our aid.

Minister of Defence also mentioned the factory "14 October "in Krusevac as important for the maintenance of weapons and in terms of defense, and that the Ministry of Defence has no budget that can support plants, because they must be competitive in the market, such as the" PPT-Namenska ".