WHAT HAPPENED TO SLOVENE INVESTMENTS

Subject: what came of slovene investments

Destiny of Economic Facilities Built by Slovene Investments

AIM Prishtina, March 12, 1996

Hasan Berisha was the last manager of "Ljubljana Bank" in Prishtina, but also the first manager of Prishtina "Credit Bank" which sprang up from this Slovene financial institution which has not "survived". Berisha declared for AIM that there was no winding up of the bank, nor any formal separation from the "financial giant" - the Ljubljana Bank. "It was agreed that the bank should become independent, since it was already clear what would be happening in the former Yugoslav space. We inherited all liabilities the former bank had, as well as follow-up of the pending investments", Mr. Berisha says and adds that after a year, Serbia allegedly "due to defence of its constitutional system", suspended all institutions of power in Kosovo and started introducing stop-gap measures in enterprises and financial institutions. Curiously enough, these measures did not include the newly established 'Credit Bank'. After some time, however, under auspices of the former 'National Bank of Yugoslavia' a decision was reached about financial reorganization of the bank, in other words, about depriving it of all rights and capital by a competent Belgrade agency". To make things even more absurd, Berisha continues his story, a Serb from Croatia was appointed the head of the agency, whose work was not criticized at all because there was simply no reason for it. His associates, however, the Kosovo Serbs, mostly those who distinguished themselves in the so-called "populist manifestations", managed to eliminate him with the help of the repressive apparatus. He was taken into custody for "abuse of authority", but unofficially rumour went that in fact he was guilty of not carrying out political tasks such as discharging as many workers ethnic Albanians as possible, blocking operation of firms owned by the Albanians, just as he did not "push" Serb enterprises hard enough. He has never appeared in court, and after he was released from custody, disappointed with his compatriots, he returned to Zagreb. Business operations of this bank started to go downhill. The agency reached a decision overnight on merging this bank with "Jugobanka" from Belgrade and it still operates under the same roof and the name "Jugjugobanka". It is worth mentioning that the manager of the bank is an Albanian, especially since it is quite rare, and since there are almost no Albanians at leading posts, either in the economy or any other institutions.

Slovene economy was present in this space for a long time in other forms of business operation too. The highest level of cooperation was in joint ventures through the Federation Fund at the time. The greatest success was the factory "Elektromotori" from Djakovica which later merged with Slovene "Gorenje" from Velenje, so that one can still see the name "Gorenje - Elektromotori" written on its walls. This facility could develop and win recognition only with the help of Slovene economy, because it was facing winding up just before the merger. Later it produced over 500 thousand electric motors a year which were installed in Velenje appliances and they were even exported to the Italian market.

In the beginning of the nineties this factory also faced difficulties, because it lost its market after all connections with the Slovene economy had been interrupted. An attempt was made to reestablish business relations with the Italian market, but international sanctions were introduced soon after that and blocked all such attempts. That is how the factory of electric motors interrupted its production, closed its doors, sent its workers on unpaid leave and forced vacation. But Mr. Buza, the current manager of this factory transformed into a shareholding company, says that they have saved themselves of stop-gap measures thanks to quick transformation which was possible at the time Ante Markovic was the Prime Minister of former Yugoslavia. However, Serb authorities are blocking such reorientation by denying legitimacy to transformation.

In the period from 1980 until some time in 1990, known as the period of "development through associating labour and resources", 69 contracts on joint investments were signed with the Slovene economy; 41 economic facilities were constructed, and nowadays it is already hard to say whether any of them is still operational. This is not the result of international sanctions alone, but of interruption of links with the Slovene economy as a result of pressures exerted by Belgrade.

The factory of radiators from Gnjilane should also be mentioned, which the Slovenes had also invested money into and which managed to keep up a certain level of production even in these difficult circumstances, although one can speak only of minimum results in reference to the potentials. The example of "Termika" from Prishtina is also well known, which has never even started with production, because the former leaders in Prishtina wished to manage the factory on their own. For a time it was rented to "Metalac" from Janjevo, which located one of its production lines there, but this was not successful either. Nowadays, this factory is used as a warehouse by various privately-owned firms.

Not just with money, but with personnel as well, Slovene "Kolor" from Medvedja and Kopar "Iplast" helped "Fapol" from Podujevo to start with manufacturing poly-ethilene posts. While the Slovenes were in Podujevo, the factory operated and showed that the investment was justified. Nowadays, almost eight years have passed without a single post being produced. This factory is seeking "salvation" within "Trepca" plant it joined, which means that it is a public enterprise which the Serb state takes care of.

The greatest unused investments are those in the Djakovica Holding Corporation "Emin Duraku". Slovene economy invested in production of artificial leather. Although production started, it was observed that facilities were overcapacitated. The situation in the facility deteriorated after 1990, when this large textiles and ready-made clothes complex was forced to interrupt operation. Its workers are on forced leave for almost five years, without a clear vision when they will return to their machines. The situation is similar in Prizren, in the facilities for production construction materials based on concrete.

It should be mentioned that even during this crisis contacts with Slovene economy and its products were never altogether interrupted. In the local privately-owned stores, it was always possible to find house appliances and other products from Slovenia. On the other hand, the Serb authorities did their best to remove all signs of Slovene presence in this space. It is impossible to see names of firms such as "Lesna", "Slovenijasport", "Smelt", "Litostroj" and others. But, the local population, mostly young Albanians, see their chance for resolving their financial difficulties in Slovenia. Last year, a significant group of young people from this space managed to make their way to Slovenia where they found employment as migrant workers in construction and agriculture.

The local press is nowadays full of advertisements for direct bus lines between Prishtina and Ljubljana. Is this actually an announcement of other connections, too?

Ibrahim REXHEPI