Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said Friday that in 2007, the Serbian defense industry had exported goods worth about USD 60 million and so far in 2012, it had already contracted deliveries to foreign customers worth about USD 275 million.

Over the last four years, the domestic defense industry got rebuilt, modernized, stabilized, and the interest from foreign buyers for the products of this segment of the economy grew significantly after Serbia received the candidate status and established cooperation with the European Defence Agency (EDA), said Sutanovac.

After visiting the 'Milan Blagojevic - Namenska' factory in the town of Lucani, central Serbia, the minister said that Serbia is likely to sign export contracts worth over USD 600 million in the near future.

The Serbian military industry employs about 10,000 workers, brings very high profits to the country and is a considerable factor of stability for the overall economy, said Sutanovac.

The factory in Lucani now has a total of 1,015 employees, with 920 workers available at all times.

For this year, Serbia contracted exports worth USD 25 million and over recent months it has established cooperation with several major companies in the U.S., France, Italy, Israel, and other countries.