Members of the Collegium of both Houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH PA) talked with the President of the Republic of Turkey

 During an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his associates met with members of the Collegium of House of Representatives and House of Peoples of the BiH PA.

At the meeting, attended by the Chair and Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives, Šefik Džaferović and Borjana Krišto, and the Chair and Deputy Chair of the House of Peoples, Bariša Čolak and Safet Softić, the hosts expressed their gratitude to the high-level guest for the consistent and highly-valued support that the Republic of Turkey continuously provides to the reconstruction and development of BiH. However, they especially emphasized Turkey’s assistance in repairing the damage caused by last year's catastrophic floods.

It was agreed that economic relations and trade between the two countries had progressed steadily. They especially welcomed the improved trade that the Bosnian meat and agricultural industries were having in the Turkish market. The favourable loans provided by Turkey, and made available across BiH, have significantly contributed to achieving this improved trade. The possibility of stronger automotive industry links was mentioned, whereby BiH companies' products could become a significant accompanying component of automobile production in Turkey. Also, the positive effect of the Turkish Development Agency, TIKA, in our country was emphasized which, according to reports, has realized around 700 different projects in BiH so far.

At today's meeting, the general belief was expressed that there is huge untapped potential for improving economic co-operation between the two friendly countries, the use of which could certainly help revive BiH's economy. Therefore, President Erdoğan urged Turkish businessmen to, in his words, "invest, invest and invest in Bosnia and Herzegovina".

In this way, we may facilitate the processes by which our country is trying to use this positive momentum to troubleshoot the multi-year deadlock on the path towards the European Union and NATO in which we, as noted earlier, have serious support from the Republic of Turkey, as a member. (End)