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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Declaration on economic, trade cooperation of Serbia, BiH and Turkey signed

Belgrade/Ankara, 14 May 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic signed today in Ankara together with Turkish Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia-Herzegovina Mirko Sarovic the Declaration on economic and trade cooperation.

Author: Tanjug

The Declaration envisages deepening of economic cooperation among the three countries in all areas, increasing trade exchange and joint participation in the markets of other countries.

Ljajic underlined that the signing of the Declaration is an excellent introduction to the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina which will be held tomorrow, adding that good political relations among the three countries must be accompanied by appropriate economic cooperation.

As you know, there is a certain lack of confidence when it comes to political trilateralism, but if citizens of our countries see tangible benefits of cooperation of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Turkey, this distrust will disappear, Ljajic said.

Ljajic also noted that it is unnatural that Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have trade exchange which is almost two times higher than Turkey's trade with the two countries separately and that is why Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina should work on increasing their internal capacity in order to increase their offer to Turkey, but also to other countries.

Sarovic and I agreed that our joint initiative should not remain only in Turkey, but that we should try to expand it to Azerbaijan and possibly Russia, Ljajic said.

He specified that the potential for a joint appearance of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina on other markets is in the areas of tourism, energy, construction, agriculture, food industry and military-economic cooperation and that with the help of Turkey, and owing to the Declaration signed today, a breakthrough on the markets of other countries of the former Soviet Union and Africa can be also made.

Ljajic and Sarovic agreed that it is of great importance for Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina that they signed such a document with a country that is so strong economically that it can land money to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia-Herzegovina stressed that Serbia, which is the third largest trade partner of BiH, and his country see a great opportunity for the growth of their economies in the cooperation with Turkey.

Caglayan called today’s signing of the Declaration a historical act, adding that Turkey is looking forward to every form of deepening economic cooperation among the three countries.

The three ministers agreed to hold the next trilateral meeting in Sarajevo in the nearest future possible, when a business forum of the businessmen from the three countries will also be held.