After the meeting in Sarajevo, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH Mirko Sarovic and the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Esref Fakibaba, expressed their hope that the volume of trade between the two countries will be 1 billion USD soon, which is their common goal.
“We talked about several very important topics that are related to the agricultural sector in BiH. Turkey is one of the most important foreign trade partners of BiH. The volume of trade in the year of 2017 is expected to amount to 700 million USD. Turkey is among the six to seven most important partners of BiH. We export one-third of our agricultural products and food to Turkey. We have a surplus because we export around 300 million BAM of food and agricultural products, and we import a bit over 50 million BAM,” stated Minister Sarovic, and added:
“This clearly shows how significant exports of some products is to us, such as edible and crude oil, gluten sugar, meat, flour, and cereals. Our potentials are not exhausted and therefore, we used this opportunity to discuss these issues. Moreover, Minister Fakibaba proposed to organize a large agricultural business forum in Sarajevo with key participants from BiH and Turkey in the last three months of 2017, in order to use the opportunity to improve our cooperation and reach the volume of trade of one billion USD in two or three years”.
Minister Fakibaba noted that he had very fruitful meetings during his visit to BiH, and confirmed that BiH as a democratic and complete country is in the interest of Turkey.
“Strategically, BiH is of key importance in this region of the Balkans and the entire region, and one of the countries that we give the most importance to. The rule of democracy and integral BiH is very important for us, not only for peace in the region but for peace all around the world as well. I personally believe, same as Minister Sarovic, that we will manage to achieve our goal of realizing billion of USD of volume very soon. And our goal for this volume of trade is that every citizen of BiH feels it and that it affects its standard and prosperity,” noted Minister Fakibaba.
He also noted that Turkey wants the prosperity of entire BiH and that indicator that shows that is more than 30 branches of Ziraat Bank in BiH.
“My goal was to increase our volume of trade in cooperation with Turkey, especially in the field of agriculture. Therefore, I am using this opportunity to emphasize that the export of agricultural products and food to Turkey in the year of 2012 amounted to 12 million BAM, and that amount reached 270 million BAM in 2016, with the estimation that it will exceed 300 million BAM. That should be emphasized, as well as that export is four times higher than import of agricultural products and food from Turkey to BiH,” noted Minister Sarovic.
Turkish Minister Fakibaba met with Semsudin Dedic, Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry of the FBiH and Edin Ramic, Minister of Displaced Persons and Refugees of the FBiH.
Minister Fakibaba concluded his official visit to BiH with the meeting with Denis Zvizdic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, which took place after his meeting with Minister Sarovic.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)
