Serbian President Boris Tadic expressed his conviction Tuesday that the beginning of mass production of new model cars in the company Fiat Automobili Srbija would give an immeasurable contribution to the economic recovery of Kragujevac (city in central Serbia) and would also contribute to reducing Serbia's trade deficit.

During the tour of the reconstruction of the largest Fiat production facility in Kragujevac, Tadic said that the joint company established between Serbia and Fiat would contribute to the technological progress of the Serbian economy, as the cars that would be mass produced in Serbia starting from the following year belonged to the new generation of vehicles.

“Two new car models that represent a major technological achievement will be produced here, and they will not be older generation cars, but the new generation ones, it is a very important fact,” Tadic underscored.

The Serbian president did not want to talk about the precise deadlines for the start of production of the new cars in Fiat Automobili Srbija, pointing out that past experience taught him that it is not good to promise too much.

“Too many promises were not realized. I am presenting the plans to you and I am calling on the citizens to support the implementation of the plans,” Tadic said, expressing his expectation that other large international companies will be attracted to Serbia following Fiat's example.

Tadic said a meeting between representatives of the Serbian government and Italy would be held in Belgrade probably in June, at which the strategic partnership between the two countries should be confirmed and which would be an opportunity to try attract some other Italian companies to invest in Serbia, since it provided better conditions for business than most European countries.

Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric, who visited the Fiat Automobili Srbija production facility along with President Tadic, said that, according to the schedule of works, the first, test models of new Fiat's cars could come down the assembly line by end of year.