Investments in the construction of new generation facilities will benefit both investors and Ukraine’s energy system, emphasized Vitaliy Zaychenko, head of NPC Ukrenergo, during his online participation in a meeting of the European Business Association’s board. During the meeting, he informed representatives of Ukraine’s largest financial and industrial groups about the current situation in the energy sector and prospects for the near future.
“Since October last year, the enemy has been carrying out comprehensive attacks on energy facilities, using a very wide arsenal of weapons: from rocket artillery to guided aerial bombs, strike drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Many power generation, transmission, and distribution facilities in most regions of Ukraine have been damaged,” said Zaychenko.
According to him, there is an acute power shortage in the energy system, which cannot yet be covered by existing generation and imports of electricity. Under these conditions, it is very important for the Ukrainian energy sector to attract private investment in the construction of power generation facilities.
As the head of Ukrenergo recalled, thanks to special auctions held by the National Energy Company, 423 MW of new generating capacity appeared in the power system over the past year.
“We are grateful to businesses that invest in projects that strengthen the stability of the energy system in such difficult conditions,” he stressed.
In addition, Zaychenko noted the importance of connecting to the common grid those generating capacities that are currently used by businesses and industry exclusively as backup power sources in case of hourly or emergency outages.
“If they were operating on the electricity market, such facilities could cover part of the power deficit in the energy system and at the same time generate profits for their owners,” he said.
According to preliminary expert estimates, the total deficit of operational generating capacity in Ukraine currently exceeds 4 GW.
According to Serbian Economist, the authorities in Injiya have confirmed that the Minth Group is moving forward with the launch of a mega-project in Vojvodina. The first stage involves land registration: part of the territory has already been purchased, and the package of documents for the remaining 210 hectares is “in the final stages.” If negotiations are completed without delay, construction could start as early as June 2026.
What has been announced about the project
According to the parameters that have been publicly discussed since 2024–2025, the project involves a plant for the production of components for the electric vehicle industry:
— investment — up to €870 million (over several years/phases),
— new jobs — about 2,200,
site size — 210 hectares, which is unusually large even by the standards of large-scale industry.
The size of the project will change the economy of the region.
For Inji, this means a jump in employment, tax base, logistics development, and demand for contractors — from construction companies to services and suppliers.
This is part of Minth’s “big package” in Serbia.
Minth already has a presence in the country: the company entered Serbia in 2018 (first production facility in Loznica, then Šabac) and is discussing expansion at several sites.
In addition to Inji, in 2025, the media reported on Minth’s additional plans for new factories and jobs in other cities in Serbia — the total scale of investment is close to billions of euros.
Serbia is consolidating its role as an industrial base for auto components.
Minth is a global supplier of auto parts and solutions for body/structural components, working with dozens of brands. For Serbia, this means strengthening its “auto cluster” and potential growth in export revenue.
At this scale, any bureaucratic delay will prolong the project by months.
Human resources and wage competition: 2,200 jobs in a single project will inevitably “pull” the labor market in the region.
Infrastructure and energy: a plant of this size will require a stable power supply, logistics, and supply chain, otherwise the effect will be lower than expected.
If the announced deadlines are met, Injiya could become one of the key points of Serbia’s industrial growth in 2026–2028, with a strong focus on components for the new automotive industry.
https://t.me/relocationrs/2159
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in mainland China’s economy in January-November 2025 fell 7.5% year-on-year to 693.18 billion yuan ($98.5 billion), according to the Ministry of Commerce.
The manufacturing sector attracted 171.72 billion yuan, while the services sector attracted 506.29 billion yuan.
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s FDI rose 67%, the UAE’s 47.6% and the UK’s 19.3%. FDI in November increased 26.1% year-on-year. As reported, FDI in 2024 collapsed 27.1% to 826.25 billion yuan. This is the maximum decline in the history of counting (since 2008).
According to Serbian Economist, the Chinese company Techron Automotive plans to build its first foreign plant for the production of plastic car components in the city of Inđija (Vojvodina, Serbia), which will strengthen the country’s role as a regional hub for the automotive industry. This was announced by the Municipality of Inđija, as cited by Serbia-business.eu.
The construction is planned to start by the end of this year. According to the published information, the plant in Indjija will be the first Techron plant outside China. At the first stage, the construction of a 4.5 thousand square meters production building is envisaged. After reaching full capacity, the enterprise will be able to provide about 200 jobs.
The plant is scheduled to open in mid-2026.
Techron produces components for the world’s leading automakers – Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Chery, Geely and others. The product line includes engine and transmission parts, interior and exterior components, as well as control system components.
Experts note that the project fits into Serbia’s strategy of deepening specialization in the automotive industry and automotive components: dozens of plants for the production of harnesses, electronics and plastic parts for European and Asian brands are already operating in the country. For the region, this means not only new jobs, but also the need to invest in energy, logistics and vocational education in order to consolidate the effect of the new investor.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1782
According to Serbian Economist, the Serbian Ministry of Internal and Foreign Trade reported that on November 3, Minister Jagoda Lazarevic met with representatives of Carrefour, who confirmed their interest in entering the Serbian market. According to the ministry, the retail chain is considering direct entry without intermediaries, intends to make Serbia a regional hub and attract local suppliers; negotiations will continue and Carrefour’s top management will come to Serbia by the end of this year.
Serbian business publications, referring to the minister’s statement, specify that the working model is being discussed in several formats, including the search for local franchise partners, while the basic scenario is the direct presence of the chain. The ministry positions the possible arrival of a new player as a way to strengthen competition and offer a wider range of products at competitive prices.
Tanjug Agency notes that Carrefour’s interest in Serbia fits into the Balkan expansion of the chain; previously, specialized resources reported about the exclusive rights of the Greek structure to develop the brand in the region, but the current statements of Belgrade emphasize the direct entry into the market.
The company has not officially announced specific launch dates and locations.
Earlier, Serbian Economist reported about the chain’s negotiations about entering Serbia, but without final decisions. The final terms and format of the presence will depend on the results of the management visit, availability of suitable retail space and agreement of terms with the regulator and potential local partners.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1691
After a nighttime incident in Podgorica, where a group of Turkish citizens stabbed a local resident during a conflict, the government of Milojko Spajić announced a temporary suspension of the visa-free regime for Turkish citizens—a political signal that security and entry controls take priority over previous openness (visa-free travel had been in place since 2008). The decision was confirmed by leading international media and government sources, which record both the incident itself and the authorities’ response formula—“a temporary pause + a rules review,” with the prospect of further consultations with Ankara on a new visa regime.
According to police reports, after a weekend marked by tension in the capital, several dozen foreigners—primarily citizens of Türkiye and Azerbaijan—were detained; President Jakov Milatović publicly called for calm and condemned retaliatory attacks on Turkish citizens and their property. This set of actions—stepped-up patrols, selective checks of legal stay, and preventive detentions—aligns with the logic of a “rapid stabilization” of order following stabbing incidents.
The socio-political backdrop has sharpened: anti-Turkish slogans were heard on the streets of Podgorica, and acts of vandalism were recorded—in particular, a business owned by a Turkish citizen in the city center was trashed, and a Turkish owner’s car was set on fire. These episodes heighten the risk of “collective responsibility,” when a single criminal offense triggers a chain of xenophobic reactions that harm people’s safety and the business climate.
The interstate dimension is developing in parallel: Türkiye’s foreign ministry promptly reached out to the Montenegrin prime minister and security officials, insisting on guarantees of rights and protection for Turkish citizens; Podgorica, for its part, declares “intensive consultations” with Ankara to find a model that combines public safety with continued economic interaction. This means that the “pause” in visa-free travel is not only a punitive gesture but also an instrument for reformatting access rules: new forms of short-term visas, mandatory registration procedures, or higher criteria for business visitors are possible.
The economic projection of the situation is ambiguous. Turkish business in Montenegro is a notable player in trade, hospitality, and real estate, especially along the Adriatic coast; rolling back visa-free travel will almost certainly reduce the mobility of entrepreneurs and workers, complicate seasonal planning, and slow transactional processes. Estimates of the size of the Turkish community vary: a number of sources cite roughly 13.3 thousand officially resident Turkish citizens (which is higher than the 2–3 thousand estimates mentioned in some materials), and for this group a clear, predictable procedure for extending stays and conducting business is crucial to avoid an outflow of investment and a “cooling” of employment in tourism and services.
At the domestic political level, the authorities’ decision serves several functions at once: it demonstrates control and sensitivity to the demand for security; cuts off the argument about “open gates” for offenders; and simultaneously mitigates reputational risks vis-à-vis the EU, with which Montenegro is negotiating membership, by aligning migration regimes and public-order standards with European practice. However, excessive “toughness” without simultaneously restraining xenophobia may provoke an escalation of ethnic tension and inflict long-term damage on the country’s investment image—this is precisely why the president’s message about the inadmissibility of attacks on Turks is a systemically important marker of balance.
From this follow the near-term scenarios. The first is “controlled thawing”: after stabilization and de-escalation of violence, and after technical parameters are agreed with Ankara, Podgorica restores simplified entry in an updated format (for example, through mandatory declarations of travel purpose or expedited category-based visas for investors and workers). The second is a “long pause”: the visa regime becomes entrenched, criteria for verifying the very purpose of entry and the legality of stay grow stricter, and Turkish companies’ business processes become costlier and slower, with a risk of investment being reallocated to neighboring jurisdictions. The third is “social turbulence”: if law-enforcement response to anti-Turkish pogroms is unsystematic, public sentiment will radicalize, and even a properly calibrated visa filter will not compensate for the loss of investor and tourist confidence. At present, government communications—about consultations with Türkiye and safeguarding public order—indicate that the bet is on the first, compromise path.
In summary, Montenegro’s decision to suspend visa-free travel is a system-level “alarm signal”: the authorities are simultaneously extinguishing a situational security crisis and trying to revise the architecture of migration procedures according to standards of control and predictability. However, the sustainability of this course will be determined not only by the strictness of border filters, but also by the state’s ability to protect lawful residents and entrepreneurs from collective punishment, hold perpetrators accountable, and preserve channels of economic cooperation with Türkiye—a partner that is already demanding security guarantees for its citizens and is ready to negotiate new rules of the game.
CRIME, INVESTMENTS, MONTENEGRO, PODGORICA, PUBLIC SENTIMENT, TURKEY
