China to Invest 2bn Euro in Serbian Energy

Photo by FoNet

Serbia's power utility, EPS, and consortium of Chinese companies have signed an agreement on building a power plant, Nikola Tesla B3, and other energy projects. The total value of the investment exceeds 2 billion euros.

Balkan Insight learned from EPS that a final decision is to be made in the first quarter of next year when the formation of the joint enterprise and the provision of financial resources for the implementation of the projects will be determined.

The Chinese partner is expected to have at least 51 per cent shares in the joint venture whereas the EPS share of the property will be negotiated.

"We will try to make this one of the best power plants in the world, which will contribute to the traditional friendly relations between Serbia and China in the most positive way," Billy Ngok, managing director of China Environmental Energy Holdings' company said on signing the agreement.

The province of Guangdong from which the company comes is one of the richest in the country and registered about 70 million euros of foreign trade with Serbia last year.

The same Chinese company owns brand Sergio Tacchini, sponsor of Serbia's No 1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic. Transfer of the production of the sports equipment brand to Serbia was also discussed while signing the agreement. The production facilities are intended for the European market.

Serbia and China have close ties and Beijing has made significant investments in Serbia's military sector. The two countries also have a mutual understanding on a political level as both have territorial “issues”, Serbia with its breakaway former province of Kosovo and China with its own restive provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang.