14.07.2014.

Minister Gasic visited "Krusik"

Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic visited today, with his associates, the company belonging to the Serbian Defence Industry Group, Holding Corporation “Krusik” Inc. Valjevo.

On this occasion, Acting Executive Director of this corporation Mladen Petkovic introduced Minister of Defence with current trends in the company’s business, current state at the factory, and their plans for the future. Until the end of 2014, as it has been stated, investments will begin for new investment projects of strategic significance for the Corporation, which will bring it to the level of respectable manufacturers in the field of missile systems.

Speaking of the significance of today’s visit, Minister Gasic pointed out that “Krusik” is one of the highly important special purpose factories for Serbia, and for the Armed Forces of Serbia, and during the talks, current situation was analyzed and losses until 2013 were calculated.

- “Krusik” does not exist according to all economic parameters, and it is heavily in debt. We have defined goals for the next period; we got full support of the Labor Union for application of measures that we have planned to implement in the next period. There is definitely a strong will of the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Serbia to help “Krusik”. New contracts have been made with SDPR for 2014, so we expect for payments for June 2014 to be fully paid as soon as tomorrow. As of September 1, “Krusik” workers will no longer receive minimum wage, but will receive full salaries, as they deserve – Ministar Gasic stressed.

He also stressed that he will talk to the unions about implementing the social program in the following period.

- We agree that, without mutual goal and work, this factory cannot withhold, and, for us, it is highly important that “Krusik” sustains as a factory after all the hardship since 1999, for “Krusik” itself and for Valjevo, and, of course, for Serbia as well – Minister of Defence evaluated, adding that, at the moment, “Krusik” has enough contracts to cover personal incomes, and, in some cases, debt conversion will be done.

According to him, “Krusik” will not cause a discontinuity in development and standard program of the Ministry of Defence, Armed Forces of Serbia and SDPR, in spite of its record loss of 950 million RSD in the previous year.

- Serbia needs to go back to work and to its advantages, and to save the factories with potential, and “Krusik” certainly has potential here in Valjevo – Minister Gasic stated, adding that, during the previous week, contracts have been made with “Krusik” in the value of 5,800,000 million dollars with many contracting parties.

Discussing export material of the defence industry of our country, Minister Gasic pointed out that it is very good and of high quality, emphasizing that this field has a bright future.

Answering press inquiries about military property, Minister Gasic stressed that everything available in the Master Plan of the Ministry of Defence is absolutely available for local self-government, in order to attract new investors. When it comes to aircraft batteries for the Armed Forces of Serbia, Minister expressed his expectation for them to be delivered soon, as a form of aid, or, more precisely, a loan from the Russian Federation, and the procurement process required for its realization is under way.

When asked to comment on his recent statement on construction of apartments for members of the defence system, Minister Gasic stressed that many parcels, objects and garages had been given, and that local self-governments had neglected their duties and what they needed to give in return, due to various circumstances. He also stressed that the Armed Forces of Serbia will be fair to everyone concerning this issue.

During today’s visit, Ministar Gasic and his associates also toured the ignition room, technical documents section and the technical processing facility at the “Krusik” factory.

The establishment of the “Krusik” as we know today is associated with 1937, when engineer Nikola Stankovic decided to build, aside from the arms and military ammunition factory in Visegrad, a factory of the same purpose in Valjevo. When it was placed under the authority of the Ministry of Defence, on June 10, 1945, the factory was named “Military Technical Institute Valjevo”, and was registered under its present name, “Krusik”, on January 23, 1948.