Minister Expects 90 Percent of Positions to Be Harmonized with MOL by Week’s End

Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic Photo: Ministry of Mining and Energy/Nenad Kostić

Serbian Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic stated on April 22 that meetings had been held between the operative and legal teams of the Serbian government and of the Hungarian oil company MOL, pertaining to the acquisition of the Russian stake in the Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) oil company, saying that she expected 90 percent of positions to be harmonized by the end of this week.

“The talks of operative and legal teams took place on April 21. We have closed a certain number of issues and we will continue in the forthcoming days. I expect us to have around 90 percent of positions harmonized by the end of the week. I assume several issues will remain open for talks at a higher level,” Djedovic Handanovic told the RTS public broadcaster, stressing that it was important that the Serbian government’s talks with MOL continued.

MOL is negotiating with the Russian majority owner about acquiring their stake in NIS and is negotiating separately with the Serbian government about the rights and obligations of the shareholders. Djedovic Handanovic emphasized that it was important for the Serbian side to complete its part of the work in order for conditions for the takeover of the NIS group to be created within the envisaged deadlines set by the U.S. administration.

She said that Serbia wanted to improve its position in these negotiations, compared to what was inherited from 2008, when the Russian owner acquired a stake in NIS. Speaking about the “red lines,” Djedovic Handanovic explained that the government wanted to improve Serbia’s position and increase the Serbian government’s stake in NIS by five percent.