Sertic: New laws to ensure more efficient privatisation

BELGRADE - Amendments to the privatisation and bankruptcy laws will ensure a more efficient and more transparent way of privatisation, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia Zeljko Sertic said on Thursday.

"Part of the workers will have to lose their jobs through redundancy programmes. However, it is important to keep as many of those employees as possible in those companies, especially highly-educated and qualified employees," Sertic told the RTS.

"The companies that are being restructured are a serious problem because they are not operating according to market conditions, and everyone wants us to behave in the way the market dictates," he said, adding that it is imperative that the process be completed before the end of this year.

There have been potential strategic partners for some of the troubled companies, but the current legislation prevented them from making arrangements that would allow for long-term business operations, Sertic said.

"The amendments to the laws will now make it possible for creditors to convert their claims into stakes in companies, which could help get those companies out of trouble," Sertic said.

Sertic backed the soon-to-be-adopted amendments to the bankruptcy law, because, he said, the level of the creditors' satisfaction has been low so far, with interested parties unable to obtain all the information needed.

Sertic also said that he expects the amended law on planning and construction to spur the development of the construction industry and other sectors of the economy, adding that the public administration reform should finally solve the problem of bloated and inefficient administration.

Photo Tanjug, Z. Zestic (archive)