Signe Engli, the deputy ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), spoke with the director of the Agency for the Advancement of Foreign Investments of BiH Gordana Milinic about proposals for cooperation on attracting Norwegian investors to BiH and on projects aimed at Norwegian investors, specifically the diaspora in Norway, which numbers 48,000.
Norwegian investors are interested in the IT, energy and woods sector with the focus on furniture production and the BiH agricultural sector. Therefore, close cooperation was requested on a more intensive presentation of the investment opportunities and on establishing cooperation with the economic and industrial chambers of Norway for the promotion of the economic sectors of BiH, in which FIPA will take part.
Previous investments by Norway in BiH amount to only 10.5 million BAM, while in 2016 there were no registered investments. The first Norwegian investment in BiH is Norfish Blagaj, while Arifagic Investment in Trnopolje and Kozarac, is the biggest investment of the BiH diaspora from Norway and was financially supported by the Government of Norway.
For 2018, the Government of Norway has set out significant grants for the economic development of BiH and the creation of new jobs. Cooperation with relevant BiH institutions is expected in order to jointly identify key development projects.
The deputy ambassador also pointed out that there is a great interest in the import of agricultural products from ecological farming from BiH, and more work needs to be done on connecting the businessmen of the two countries.
(Source: Faktor.ba)