BiH, as well as other regional countries, recorded an increase in the military industry this year. While there is concern about the abuse of arms exports and military equipment all around the world, BH authorities noted that this industry in our country is safe and competitive.
In the past two years, BiH recorded record sales in almost 40 countries around the world. As the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH Mirko Sarovic noted, and we will continue to have the trend of growth in the first half of 2017.
“My expectations are positive, and the indicators are great. If we take into consideration that the export of arms and equipment from BiH has always been higher in the second half of the year, then we can expect new records as well. It is a really competitive branch of the industry. In the past years, the FBiH was exporting more than the RS, and this year we have recorded an increase in exports of weapons, military equipment, and dual-use products in both entities,” said Sarovic.
In the first seven months of this year, the export of weapons and military equipment from BiH amounted to 92,866,832 BAM, which represents an increase of 19.7 % in comparison to the same period last year, when goods from BiH were exported in the amount of 77,579,750 BAM. Last year, weapons and ammunition were exported from BiH in the amount of 597 million BAM. Companies that were the most successful in this field are Pretis from Vogosca, Igman from Konjic and Unis Gineks from Gorazde.
Companies from BiH are exporting to more than 50 countries in the world, and the main export markets in the first half of 2017 were the USA, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Turkey, Serbia, Indonesia, Iraq, Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland, Romania, Malaysia, Congo, Hungary, Macedonia, Israel, and Egypt. The military industry of our country records millions of exports in these markets, according to the data of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH has the authority to warn the competent BH institutions and companies, during the export of weapons and military equipment, on whether countries in which they export are under some kind of international sanctions.
When it comes to the accuracy, regularity, and clearness of supply, BiH occupies the 44th position when it comes to transparency in the export of small arms and light weapons, as recently published in the annual publication “Trade Update 2017, Transfers and Transparency”. When it comes to neighboring countries, Serbia occupies the third and Croatia the 16th place, on the same list.
(Source: Dz. C./Klix.ba)
