Brnabic: Everyone in the Region Can Only Benefit from Open Balkans

The perspectives of cooperation of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are much better, because, in addition to Telekom, now EPS is also planning to become an investor through the HPP Buk-Bjela, with over EUR 200 million, as part of the HPP system which also contains Foca and Pauci, concluded the prime minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, at the closing panel “Regional Cooperation and Economic Development” at the Jahorina Economic Forum 2022, as announced on the portal of the Government of Serbia.

We expect the authorities in BiH to also recognize this project as a job of special importance, because EPS is entering the project as any other investor and should be treated as such, Brnabic pointed out.

The prime minister stated that Serbia had a total goods exchange worth EUR 2.5 billion with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska in 2021 and estimated that those were important partners for much bigger states too.

She added that, with that project, EPS and Serbia would become the biggest investors in BiH and Republika Srpska.

– Along with that project, there is also the construction of the Trebinje airport and other similar projects, the kind of which, in terms of importance and scope, we haven’t had so far, and which open the possibility for additional projects and cooperation – the prime minister emphasized.

According to her, if the entire Western Balkans got involved in the Open Balkans, the GDP in the region would be increased 7%.

– I don’t understand why some partners from the Western Balkans don’t want to get involved in the project, but I expect that, at the end of this year and the beginning of next one, they will do so once the benefits of cooperation between Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania become apparent – Brnabic pointed out.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Government of Serbia

Telekom Srbija

EPS

Elektroprivreda Srbije

HPP Buk Bijela

HPP Foča

HPP Pauci

Trebinje airport

Jahorina Economic Forum

panel Regional Cooperation and Economic Development

investments in Republika Srpska

investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Open Balkans

economic cooperation in the region