NEWS HEADLINES: Top news in Serbia's Blic daily newspaper

1. Serbia unveiled its biggest military base yesterday after investing more than 1.7 dinars billion to build the Jug (South) complex on the Cepotina hill near Bujanovac in southern Serbia. Some 1,000 professional military personnel and police will be based in the complex, which includes 66 facilities spanning 22,000 square meters spread on 35 hectares of land. The base will provide training for Serbian soldiers that will take part in peacekeeping operations around the world, but also foreign troops, President Boris Tadic said at the opening ceremony. The complex will help step up the fight against organized crime and represent a development opportunity for southern Serbia, according to Tadic. The ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Serbia’s top brass, and foreign diplomats. Construction of the base started in April 2003.

2. Serbia should not apply for EU membership without consulting the bloc’s president and the European Commission, Pierre Mirel, director for the Western Balkans at the commission’s directorate general for enlargement who is visiting Belgrade, said yesterday.  

3. The Foreign Policy Committee of EU Parliament said yesterday that EU Council of Ministers should give its opinion regarding implementation of ITA (the Interim Trade Agreement) with Serbia ASAP.

4. Serbian Orthodox Church will get new patriarch most probably by the end of January, between January 20 and January 27 (St. John and St. Sava church holidays).

5. Managing board of NIS confirmed the loss of 8 B dinars last year, after the new revision done by Ernst & Young.

6. Chinese automotive giant Dongfeng Motor Corp. and truck and bus manufacturer FAP from Priboj signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday that calls on the Serbian company to start assembling four Dongfeng truck models in 2010. In order for the project to kick off, FAP must modernize its equipment, Deputy Prime Minister Mladjan Dinkic said at a signing ceremony in Belgrade, adding that the government plans to invest up to EUR 1 million in FAP’s overhaul next year.

7. The Czech Republic has granted state railway company Zeleznice Srbije 1 million EUR to help it modernize 10 railroad crossings across the country. The Czech Development Agency will finance the procurement and deployment of equipment, while construction works will be funded by Zeleznice. The modernization of all ten crossings is targeted for completion in the next two years.

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