Turkish textile company Ormo opens a yarn production factory with a footprint of 12,700 square metres in Lebane, in southern Serbia. The factory is operated by Ormo's Serbian subsidiary LebanTeks and currently has 130 employees, the Serbia’s economy ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The factory of Ormo occupies the premises of insolvent state-owned company Eksportekst. The government invested 200 million dinars ($2 million/1.7 million euro) in the overhaul of the facilities, the economy ministry said.

Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic during the official opening of the facility said that Ormo invested 500,000 euro ($598,000) to open the factory and plans to invest additional 500,000 euro next year,

The Turkish company plans to increase the number of employees at the factory to 650 in the next two years, as it plans to build a production unit of 13,000 square metres.

The owner of the Ormo company, Besim Minkara, said that currently, Ormo produces 45 tonnes of yarns monthly at its factories in Turkey and plans to concentrate one-quarter of its output in Serbia,

In March, Serbia's trade minister Rasim Ljajic said that the government plans to promote a model that involves the reconstruction of old and abandoned halls where interested investors could install machinery and immediately start production. The model is being applied for industrial halls in the towns of Lebane, Lazarevac, Kraljevo, Nis and Leskovac, Ljajic.