Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Minister of Science and Technological Development Bozidar Djelic, Mayor of Valjevo Zoran Jakovljevic and Director of the Petnica Research Centre Vigor Majic signed a Protocol in Valjevo on cooperation in the realisation of a project of enlargement and reconstruction of Petnica worth €7.6 million.
Djelic pointed out that €5.3 million will be invested in the reconstruction of the existing facilities and construction of new ones, with a total capacity of 170 beds for students and their teachers over an area of 17,000 square metres, and €2.3 million for the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment.

The tender for the contractor will be announced in three weeks, said Djelic and added that the works will start in March 2011, while the entire project of renovation of Petnica will be completed in mid 2012.

Djelic underlined that the government decided to support this project primarily because Petnica should gather more young researchers from all over the country.

He called on parents of elementary pupils and secondary and university students to use this research centre more for development and acquisition of scientific knowledge, since the future of their children will largely depend on this.

Source: MSTD http://www.nauka.gov.rs/eng/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=436&Itemid=55, as accessed November 28, 2010