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Putin, Nikolic discuss Serbian gas debt at talks in Kremlin

The Russian president noted that Russia has a big amount of investment in Serbian economy - one billion 200 million dollars

MOSCOW, October 30 (Itar-Tass) - Presidents of Russia and Serbia Vladimir Putin and Tomislav Nikolic discuss the problem of Serbian gas debt at the talks in the Kremlin on Wednesday.

“In our relations everything is developing well, but some problems exist,” the Serbian president said. Meanwhile, he acknowledged that “in essence, these problems concern Serbia.” “We will settle these problems,” the Serbian president pledged.

He added that in Serbia “there are some people, who do not support our good cooperation with Russia, sometimes even members of the government do not take decision-making quite carefully.” Meanwhile, he recalled “the problem of our Srbijagas debt remains unsettled, which should be resolved in any way.”

“But I am actually glad about the business success of the Petroleum Industry of Serbia, a Serbian subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, on the scale of the Balkans it is already a giant,” Nikolic said.

Putin noted that the company had increased the tax revenues in the budget by 37 percent, “the Petroleum Industry of Serbia has paid 690 million euro for January-September in the budget of the country (Serbia),” Putin added.

“The Petroleum Industry of Serbia has provided for ten percent of our budget,” Nikolic confirmed. “This makes the rivals of this investment shut up,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Russian president noted that Russia has a big amount of investment in Serbian economy - one billion 200 million dollars.

“As any investor in any part of the world we hope that this investment will be provided with favourable conditions,” Putin said.

Meanwhile, he noted, “Despite special relations, we do not claim for any special conditions in the sphere of economy.”

Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, Minister of Energy Aleksander Novak and Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller are also participating in the meeting from Russia.