Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidential Council head Sefik Dzaferovic spoke to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Sunday, drawing attention to the importance of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's official visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sept. 6 and stating that the visit is also important in terms of increasing economic relations between the two countries.
Dzaferovic evaluated Erdoğan's official visit to his country to Anadolu Agency.
Emphasizing that Erdoğan's upcoming visit is important for both Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region, Dzaferovic said: "Our relations with Türkiye are at their highest level in the past four years. This visit of President Erdoğan’s to Bosnia-Herzegovina is important in terms of increasing the economic relations between the two countries.”
Dzaferovic noted that: "The focus of most of our mutual visits with President Erdoğan has been on economic cooperation. Important Turkish companies such as Şişecam and Natron Hayat are among the most serious companies in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Within the scope of the free trade agreement we signed with Türkiye, businesspeople from Bosnia-Herzegovina now have more options. They were given an important status that they did not have before. Türkiye wants to increase economic relations with us. Our aim is to increase the foreign trade volume to the level of $1 billion."
In addition, pointing to President Erdoğan's support for the Dayton Peace Agreement, Dzaferovic said: "Bosnia-Herzegovina wants regional cooperation based on mutual respect. Türkiye knows the region very well and its support for the region is completely constructive. Every visit to Herzegovina and the region has a calming and balancing effect.”
The Bosnian leader stated that Erdogan's visit is important for the stability of the region as well as for the economic relations.
"Recently, international relations have been extremely turbulent. The war in Ukraine has brought great difficulties. Türkiye has demonstrated its important role in maintaining international peace in ensuring grain exports from Ukrainian ports and in other negotiations. Türkiye attaches great importance to the entire region, especially Bosnia-Herzegovina. Its goal is the stability of the Balkans. Erdoğan and Türkiye play great roles in maintaining peace and stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region.
“There are other countries with which Bosnia-Herzegovina cooperates, but we have cooperation with Türkiye in many fields such as political, economic, defense, sports, culture, health and education. Türkiye is involved in the protection, reconstruction and restoration of cultural heritage, which is the basis of our identity. It is one of the main partners of Bosnia-Herzegovina,” Dzaferovic said.
Recently, Türkiye celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Turkish diplomatic relations with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Türkiye was among the first countries to recognize the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina when it was declared in 1992 following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
