Serbian media reports this week suggest the signing of a strategic contract between Zastava and Fiat has been postponed. Photo: Zastava's factory at Kragujevac seen before the Balkan wars.

The signing of a strategic contract between Zastava and Fiat has been postponed, reports say. A memorandum of understanding was inked in early May between the Serbian government and the Italian carmaker, while the actual contract on strategic cooperation was announced several times since.

"There is a high degree of agreement on all the most important details, but what remains to be solved are some minor technical details. The exact date of the signing of the contract has not been set," Dejan Jovanović, a state secretary with the G17 Plus-held Ministry of Economy was quoted as saying by the Belgrade newspapers today.

The signing was previously announced for mid-September. The postponement is now explained with "the volume and serious nature of the work involved, a change in the amount that the state and the Italian company must invest, and some technical details". The "technical details" are said to pertain to "undefined property issues" within the Kragujevac-based Zastava.

According to the May MoU, Fiat was to invest EUR 700mn, while the state's share was EUR 100mn. Now, reports say, Serbia looks likely to spend EUR 300mn on the deal, while Fiat's obligations would go up to EUR 800mn. Both sides have in the meantime denied that the stalling of the contract signing had to do with the delayed ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) in Serbia's parliament.

Report courtesy of B92