IMI PRODUCTION PLANT OPENED OFFICIALLY
The Philippines-based company IMI has opened an electronic automotive parts factory in Niska Banja, in the presence of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Over 33 million EUR has been invested in the plant which will produce electronic parts for automotive and IT industry in Europe and other countries where IMI has production plants and business partners. The official opening was also attended by IMI CEO Gilles Bernard, IMI Director in Nis Radoslav Georgiev, Regional Director for EU Operations, Eric Serge de Candido, Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and other guests.
Vucic said that by having the kind of factories that IMI has opened Serbia in this way opened the door to the future and joined global trends. He also said that he was proud of the fact that after two years of the construction the work was finally done and that 74 people were already employed there, mainly from Nis and the surrounding area. The plan is to employ a total of 1,200 workers but that number could be higher. “We will try to transform Nis into a regional industrial center”, said the President of Serbia and expressed his gratitude to the people of Nis, who have been excellent hosts to foreign investors. Vucic also told IMI’s management that they would always have the support of the state and local self-government, because, generating higher profit and having higher salaries and higher employment was in everybody’s best interest. He also added that IMI was an innovative company that needs highly educated people, which signals to the state that the education system had to be reformed to be in accordance with the latest trends.
IMI’s CEO, Gilles Bernard, believes that the company will be a driving force behind new foreign investments in the field of advanced technologies in Serbia. Representatives of the company donated the first products from the IMI factory in Niska Banja, the remote garage door opener, to the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and the mayor of Nis. Bernard also says that the company produces new technologies and is also involved in manufacturing unmanned autonomous driving systems. He adds that IMI designs and manufactures electronic modules for the auto industry, but also aeronautics, and is present in 10 countries. “IMI operates in Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, and South America and we really have conquered the whole world, and this is important for Serbia. In the past 10 years, our company recorded a huge growth, and last year we celebrated exceeding the revenue of one billion dollars. We will have an even higher growth this year, “said Bernard.
Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović pointed out that with the opening of two factories in Nis in 24 hours, that is, a total of six factories in the last few years, the city raised itself on the map of investments, it reduced unemployment and thus contributed to further development of the city and changed the whole image of the south and the whole of Serbia. “We raise all the capacities of the city, we make the business environment more competitive, in order to attract new investments, for even greater growth and development,” Bulatovic said, adding that it would not have been possible without the huge support of the state, the Government and President Aleksandar Vucic to whom he was particularly grateful for everything he had done for Nis and the south of the country.
