The Mayor of Novi Sad, Miloš Vučević received at the City Hall the representatives of the Austrian Company "Vossloh Kiepe Austria", headed by the General Manager Peter Pichler. The City of Novi Sad signed yesterday in Belgrade the Memorandum of Understanding with the Company and is currently in negotiations to establish a production facility in Serbia, more precisely in the Customs Free Zone of Novi Sad, the total area of up to 25 000 square meters, with the possibility of hiring up to 600 local workers. The initial value of the investment is 1.25 million euros, and the facility will cover the production of refrigeration, heating and ventilation systems for all types of rail vehicles.

- The City of Novi Sad is intensively working to create a favourable climate for investors, and it has a great support of the Government of Serbia, whose policy of subsidizing the export activities and creating jobs it devotedly follows. Our partners from Austria recognized the potential that Serbia has, such as the skilled labor force, professional staff and favourable international agreements, in particular the free trade agreements with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan - the mayor said, and pointed out that this will also be an incentive for other investors to invest in Novi Sad, which has an immeasurable investment potential.

On this occasion, Mayor Vučević pointed out that the location that the City is offering to the investor is very convenient, as it is situated close to the city center as well as to the Port of Novi Sad and it also has the direct access to the highway, which makes it very attractive. He added that the link between the City and the Company, in the organization of such an important project for Novi Sad, will be the Local Economic Development Office.

The General Manager of "Vossloh Kiepe Austria" Company, Peter Pichler, said that his Company recognized the City of Novi Sad as a serious partner, not only for this investment, but also for the future investments. He thanked the Mayor for his excellent cooperation and expressed his satisfaction with the available logistics and professional staff, ready to perform the complex tasks in the development of their products.

After the meeting with the Mayor, a delegation of the Austrian Company headed to the meeting at the seat of the Customs Free Zone, which was followed by a field trip of the location where the future production facility will be placed.

Novi Sad, 4^th October 2013