Judge: British want to take part in Telekom privatization

BELGRADE - Chairman of the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce Sir Paul Judge has said in an interview to Tanjug that British experts are very eager to be consultants in the sale of Telekom Srbija, but he not ruling out the possibility that UK companies might be potential investors either.

It is a good idea of the government to privatize Telekom and British experts would eagerly assist the government in ensuring that the process is completed to the benefit of Serbia, regardless of the way in which you would like to sell it, entirely or partially, he says, adding that the experts would give the best advice in terms of the price that could be secured and regulations that need to be changed for investors to come.

Asked whether Great Britain is more interested in being a consultant in that process than investor, he said that the latter option was also possible.

The British mobile telephony is strong. Vodafone is a major British company, and it would be logical that they would be the one in that case, but we do not know whether they are interested in that purchase or not. There are many companies that would be potential buyers of the state assets in Serbia, if conditions are fair, Judge said.

He underscored that there was a certain number of investors in the construction industry who were interested in taking part in projects in Belgrade, but also noted that the government should provide favorable business conditions in order to attract money.

When asked about foreign investors' take on the arrest of major businessmen in Serbia, suspected of various frauds, tax evasion and similar crimes, he said it was a very good signal for foreign investors, as they did not like when the country was corrupt.

"The most...