First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic opened today in Stara Pazova the Technology Centre of Engineering and Production of German company Muhlbauer worth €10 million.

Dacic said that this centre is the result of cooperation between Serbian and German experts and it is extremely important for the Serbian Interior Ministry, as it will produce passports and identity documents of exceptional quality and high level of protection.

He pointed out that Muhlbauer provided a major contribution to visa liberalisation for Serbia as this company produced biometric passports for Serbian citizens, adding that due to their high quality these documents were never forged.

The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that the cooperation of the Serbian Interior Ministry with Muhlbauer began in 2003, when the first contract was signed.

He said that in the past four years four million biometric passports have been issued while since 2010 in cooperation with Muhlbauer approximately two and a half million new registration and driving licences have been issued.

He pointed out that, thanks to cooperation with that company, Nikola Tesla Airport received an electronic gate as a donation, thus becoming the third airport in Europe to have passport control without the presence of customs officials.

Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric said that thanks to high-tech development and educational centre in Stara Pazova Serbia will be able to hire young professionals and to export knowledge.

The company currently employs 80 workers in Serbia, and after the opening of the Technology Centre, in which Muhlbauer invested €5.5 million, another 80 jobs will be opened, said Ciric.

Through a of non-repayable incentive programme of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development for encouraging investment, administered by the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA), Muhlbauer received €500,000, or €5,000 per new job created.

Company founder and president of Muhlbauer Group Josef Muhlbauer said that investment in Serbia are realised thanks to the excellent cooperation with the Serbian government and local authorities.

The company plans to increase the number of employees to 1,000 and to expand the business, Muhlbauer said, adding that the company will export products and complete solutions for production of electronic documents from Serbia.

Mayor of Stara Pazova Goran Jovic said that the contract with Muhlbauer was signed in September last year, and that on 21 October the municipally completed all documentation and allowed the start of construction of the new centre.

He noted that the centre was built in less than six months and added that passports, identity cards and other electronic documents produced will be present in the entire world market.

Muhlbauer is a world leader in security technology solutions in the field of electronic identification – machines for production of electronic documents, electronic passports, biometric ID cards and all products that belong to the field of electronic government.

The objective of opening plants in Serbia is to have a complete development part of the technology producing identity documents and biometrics products in our country.