No trouble in economic cooperation with Turkey

The attempt at a military coup in Turkey hasn't impacted the economic cooperation of Serbia with that country so far, it was said to Tanjug at the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, which will keep following the situation and provide guidelines to Serbian businessmen in cooperation with the Government of Serbia.

The head of the Bilateral Cooperation Center at the CCIS, Nikola Jankovic, says that the CCIS hasn't yet received any concrete information about any companies complaining about problems in their activities, whether in export or in import or in any other aspect of cooperation with Turkey.

– Of course, every instance of political instability does have its effects and does influence the economy, but we have no concrete data about it yet. We hope that the situation will stabilize as soon as possible and that its impact will prove to be minimal – Jankovic said.

Turkey, as Tanjug's interviewee points out, is an important foreign trade partner of Serbia and a large export market, and Serbia's import from Turkey is even larger at the moment.

– We hope that the cooperation will not come to an end. By the way, the trade has been growing year by year and we are now close to the amount of a billion dollars a year – Jankovic stated.

According to him, Turkey was the 17th export market for Serbia last year, and the eighth when it comes to the import.

Jankovic points out that the Turkish economy has been expanding in the past period and that their companies have grown stronger and entered the global market.

There are examples of successful Turkish investments in Serbia, for example, in the textile and the automotive industries, and also in the arrival of Halkbank to Serbia, which supports local businessmen, he adds.

– We hope that the situation will calm down and that it won't significantly influence the business activities and planned investments in Serbia – Jankovic stated.

In the first five months of 2016, the trade between Serbia and Turkey amounted to USD 380.09 million, which marks a mild growth relative to the same period in 2015, primarily regarding the Turkish export to Serbia.

Privredna komora Srbije

export to Turkey

import to Turkey

Chamber of Commerce of Serbia

Nikola Jankovic