The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, with the co-operation of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, organised a roundtable devoted to the presentation of the Bill Amending and Modifying the Privatisation Act, on 7 February 2005. The aim of the presentation was for journalists accredited to the Assembly to become acquainted with the Bill, as it would contribute to the quality of their coverage of the amendments and modifications proposed.

The discussion was opened by the Chairman of the National Assembly, Predrag Markovic, whose speech was followed by that of the Minister of the Economy in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Bubalo, who presented the Bill. Mr Bubalo said that the modifications proposed would make for a more efficient and faster privatisation procedure.

In addition to journalists, the discussion was attended by officials of the Ministry of the Economy, the Privatisation Agency, the Share Fund, the Corruption Suppression Council, members of the Privatisation Committee of the National Assembly, as well as OSCE expert consultants Miodrag Zec, Predrag Veselinovic and Branko Pavlovic.

The discussion, which lasted for more than three hours, focused on new legal institutions incorporated into the Bill Amending and Modifying the Privatisation Act: debt discharging, arbitration, cession of contract and representative of socially-owned capital.

As privatisation was the main topic of the roundtable, provisions of the Bill on the Share Fund were the subject of discussion. The Act on Bankruptcy Proceedings, which came into force on 1 February, was also debated.

Concluding the discussion, the moderator of the roundtable, Djordje Vlajic, underlined the usefulness of holding such debates, especially for journalists, for whom they were principally intended.