Published October 11,2024
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Türkiye and Serbia will work more durable to ensure cooperation between the 2 nations’ business communities reaches its full potential, mentioned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday.
“We have significant potential in health, energy, information and communication technology. We should reap more benefit from these areas. It will be in the interest of both countries to take important steps together, especially in the defense industry,” Erdoğan informed a news convention alongside his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at a Türkiye-Serbia Business Forum within the capital Belgrade.
Erdoğan, earlier than concluding his one-day go to to Serbia, mentioned he believes “it is very important that we increase our dialogue, particularly in the field of the defense industry.”
He additionally expressed Türkiye’s readiness to work with Serbia in initiatives as a part of the EU Green Deal and Digital Europe.
Noting that about 850 corporations with Turkish capital are in Serbia, Erdoğan said: “The investments of Turkish companies in Serbia, which create jobs, are growing every day. Over the last 12 years, the added value generated by these companies has risen from $1 million to $405 million.”
Erdoğan mentioned Turkish corporations additionally make use of about 9,600 folks in Serbia, whereas contractors have achieved a business quantity of greater than $1 billion with 95 initiatives.
On the bilateral commerce quantity, Erdoğan underlined that the 2 nations have made notable progress in a brief time period, including that the commerce quantity between Türkiye and Serbia “broke a record for two years in a row and topped $2 billion.”
Stressing that reaching the 2023 whole within the first 9 months of 2024 is an indication of strengthening momentum, Erdoğan highlighted that the primary aim is to achieve a $5 billion commerce quantity.
The door is “wide open” for Serbian entrepreneurs who’re fascinated by investing in Türkiye, he mentioned.
– Tourism
Saying one other signal of the excessive stage of relations between the 2 nations is their shut cooperation within the area of tourism, Erdoğan added: “The improvement of the tourism sector between our nations contributes considerably each to our economies and the ties between our peoples.
“I hope that by the end of this year, the number of tourists coming from Serbia to Türkiye will break the record set in 2022, which was 360,000. We’re also pleased that Turkish citizens rank first among tourists visiting Serbia. We naturally expect a significant increase in these numbers following the ratification of a protocol allowing travel with national ID cards.”
For his half, Vucic mentioned that Serbia’s relations with Türkiye “go far beyond economic cooperation,” as ties with Türkiye signify “peace and stability.”
Vucic added that Turkish corporations’ investments in Serbia are vital.
Source: www.anews.com.tr