At Serbia-Turkiye Business Forum 300 companies with concrete projects

At the Serbia-Turkiye Business Forum held on Friday, over 177 Serbian and 120 Turkish companies from all sectors of the economy gathered. They brought concrete projects for the strengthening of cooperation and business connections, announced the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS).

– Without strong support and the personal friendship of the presidents Vucic and Erdogan, our economies would not have been likely to do what they have achieved so far – said Marko Cadez, the president of the CCIS.

At the opening of the forum, which was attended by the presidents of Serbia and Turkiye, Aleksandar Vucic and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Cadez cited as good news that, according to the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, already in August, Serbia’s annual export to Turkiye had been exceeded and added that the country was heading toward breaking the record in the mutual exchange between the two countries.

– This is a week of good news, Serbia has received an investment-grade credit rating, the market where products from Serbia can be gotten duty-free has been increased to 2.8 billion people. A new era has also opened by us entering the battery alliance and creating the possibility of being one of the key factors in the new green industrial revolution – Cadez said and pointed out that it was also a great honor that business forums had been held for the fourth time in the presence of the two presidents.

– That says enough about the big friendship and good relations of our countries – added the president of the CCIS.

Talking about the companies which had come to the forum with concrete projects and the bilateral meetings with Turkish partners, Cadez said that PIK Becej and Friglo were ready to double their exchange with Turkey, that Jela Jagodina wanted to increase the export of furniture to the Turkish market and that there were plenty of opportunities for cooperation in IT and nearly all sectors.

The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that the arrival of Turkish investors was of great importance for Serbia and thanked Turkish companies for employing people in Serbia and leaving a part of their income to Serbia.

– Only a month from now, we will open the Novi Sad-Subotica railroad. We will be connected with Budapest by a fast railroad, as soon as the Hungarians complete their part of the job, in less than two years. At the same time, we have started building the Belgrade-Nis fast railroad, we are already doing Nis-Dimitrovgrad, which means that we will reach Istanbul much faster. We will be able to have a veritable Orient Express as there used to be and to reach the biggest city in Turkiye in only several hours from Belgrade, Nis, or Pirot and other cities in the south and southeast of Serbia – said the president of Serbia.

The president of Turkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pointed out that Turkish companies employed 9,600 people in Serbia and that their total income had exceeded USD 1 billion, and he also said that the door was wide open to all entrepreneurs from Serbia that wanted to work in Turkiye.

Addressing the participants at the forum, Erdogan said that Turkish companies created good business opportunities and that, at that moment, there were 850 investors in Serbia, whose capital value had grown in the preceding 12 years from the initial USD 1 million to USD 540 million.

– Our two countries have achieved a lot, whereas our external trade, in the past two years, has exceeded the amount of USD 2 billion, which shows to what extent our exchange is on the rise – said Erdogan.

The chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkiye, Nail Olpak, said that the trade between Serbia and Turkiye had increased and that further growth was expected.

– I believe that the possibility of traveling without a visa will also contribute to it. I know that traveling with an ID card is something that’s being worked on, which will facilitate doing business considerably – Olpak said at the gathering.

– Turkiye and Serbia are countries of big business opportunities, and digital and green transition are two important topics and, in that field, the two countries can make important steps together – estimated Olpak.

After the plenary meeting, bilateral meetings were held between business people, who discussed concrete jobs and projects in energy, infrastructure, tourism, automotive and food industries and other fields.

Predsedništvo Republike Srbije

Privredna komora Srbije

PIK-Bečej doo Bečej

Friglo d.o.o. Sečanj

Jela Jagodina d.o.o. Jagodina

president of Serbia

president of Turkiye

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia

CCIS

Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkiye

PIK Bečej

Friglo

Jela Jagodina

Aleksandar Vučić

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Marko Čadež

Nail Olpak

Serbia Turkiye Business Forum

goods trade of Serbia and Turkiye