Bayer Opens Office In Belgrade

German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer has opened an office inBelgrade, in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There are 10 staff employed at the office, who will concentrate initially on market research and advising industrial users of Bayer's products. The next step will be to add the activities of the firm's health care and agriculture businesses, Bayer said.

After achieving sales in Yugoslavia last year of 11 million Deutschemarks ($6.4 million), Bayer expects turnover to rise to 12 million marks in the current year, and that this figure will have risen to 30 million marks by the year 2000.

The founding company of the Belgrade office is Bayer International in Switzerland. The president of the company, Hans Pestalozzi, emphasized at the opening of the office that Bayer has had good trading relations with customers in Yugoslavia for many years. "It is our aim to build the same market position here as we already hold in the countries of western Europe," he said.