At its fourth sitting, held on 19 November, the Privatisation Committee considered and accepted the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development’s Report on the Activities of the Privatisation Agency for September 2008, and the Privatisation Agency’s Work Programme for October 2008. The Committee members also discussed and adopted the Report on the sale of shares/stakes from the Privatisation Register in 2008, the Report on the sale of shares and stakes in the companies from the Fund’s portfolio for the 30 April 2002 to 30 September 2008 period and the Review of the transfer of 70% of capital to the Fund following the breaking of the contract on the acquisition of social capital concluded between the Privatisation Agency and the buyers.

In the debate the Committee members showed interest in the results of individual privatisations, pointed out problems in the process, pointed out the consequences of the world economic crisis on the privatisation process in Serbia, as well as the issue of the deadline for the completion of privatisation which is coming up on 31 December 2008.

Having completed the discussion, the Committee unanimously passed the Conclusion to request information from the relevant authorities on the strategy for the conclusion of the privatisation process by the end of 2008. Also, the Committee decided to request the presence of the Minister of Economy and Regional Development at the next sitting to outline for the Committee the information on the world economic crisis and its influence on Serbia. The Committee will also request from the authorised Ministry, the information on the way the means from the privatisation process are being spent, as well as the Information on the number of enterprises being currently restructured, which should be privatised.

The Committee members accepted the Committee Chairman’s initiative to hold one of the next sittings in Vranje.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Milan Nikolic, and attended by the director of the Share Fund, Aleksandar Gracanac, deputy director of the Privatisation Agency, Vladislav Cvetkovic and representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.