Construction of BIG shopping center starts in Novi Sad

The commencement of construction of a shopping center of the Israeli company BIG, for the needs of which 500 workers from Serbia will be hired, was ceremoniously marked today in Novi Sad by Vojvodina Prime Minister Bojan Pajtic, Israeli Ambassador to Serbia Arthur Koll, and Mayor Igor Pavlicic.

BIG shopping center in the industrial zone near the Novi Sad Dairy, comprising 30,000 square meters of office and retail space and about 1,500 parking places, should be opened in one year.

After laying the cornerstone for that facility, of which construction and equipping will cost about EUR 40 million, Pajtic pointed out that that investment was significant not only because of its great value and new jobs, but also because it was the first investment of an Israeli company in the province.

- Over the last ten years, 230 foreign companies have invested a total of about EUR 6.5 billion in Vojvodina, thus creating about 60,000 jobs - Pajtic said and stressed that 45 percent of all foreign investments in Serbia in that period had been made in the province.

Ambassador Koll expressed his satisfaction with the fact that companies from Israel had started expanding their activities and reminded that there had been some important Israeli investments in Serbia over the previous few years, but that they were all implemented in Belgrade.

Koll pointed out that the construction of BIG center in Novi Sad was "a sign of trust in the vitality of the Serbian economy", which had begun recovering from the consequences of the global economic crisis.