BELGRADE, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The assembling of Fiat Punto cars in Serbia's Zastava factory will stop for about two weeks following a fire that damaged a production hall, an official said on Monday.
In 2008 Serbia and Fiat created a billion-euro joint venture, Fiat Automobili Srbija, in which the Turin-based manufacturer acquired 67 percent of the Zastava carmaker, while the government in Belgrade kept the remainder.
The fire which broke out on Saturday in Kragujevac, 80 kilometers south of Belgrade, led to the collapse of a roof panel and damaged a conveyer system, Nebojsa Ciric, a state secretary with the Economy Ministry, said in a statement.
"Production will be halted for about two weeks ... until installations are replaced," Ciric said. "The factory has about 1,300 completed cars on stock and timely deliveries will be secured."
On Sunday Serbian Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic told reporters that in 2009 the Zastava factory will produce a total of 15,000 Fiat Punto cars, and earn 27 million euros.
Fiat delayed its investment project for Zastava last year, leaving it to be run by the state on government subsidies and saying the takeover was delayed because of the global financial downturn.
The Italian manufacturer instead agreed with Belgrade on the licensed assembly of its Punto model for sales in Serbia and neighboring Bosnian Serb Republic.
Last week Dinkic said he expects that Fiat will complete its 800 million-euro investment by year's end.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Adam Tanner, Greg Mahlich) Keywords: refiled SERBIA FIAT/ (aleksandar.vasovic@thomsonreuters.com; +381 62 451 129)

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