Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić has said early today that he expects the first successful privatisations or strategic partnerships for spas in 2017, saying there are people interested in that.

“We expect to have the first cases of successful privatisations or strategic partnerships in 2017 when it comes to spas. We are having talks with potential investors, there are people interested in that, but I won’t say that all spas will be sold since it isn’t realistic”, Mr Ljajić has told to the press in Belgrade.

As he has added, the situation in spa facilities is rather poor and it will be a challenge to find a buyer for those in poor condition.

On November 11, Serbian Government gave a time period of 60 days to the competent institutions to solve the existing property-legal issues regarding the ownership of spas, in particular with the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund.

As Mr Ljajić has presented in details, the idea is that the government becomes the owner of the property so that it could initiate the privatisation procedure for those spas, or a public call for a strategic or a public-private partnership.

“I’m sure that we’ll have the first successful privatisations, sales or strategic partnerships in 2017”, Mr Ljajić concluded.