Cadez: Serbia-Turkey business forum attended by record-high number of companies

BELGRADE - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (PKS) President Marko Cadez said on Friday a Serbia-Turkey business forum in Belgrade was attended by a record-high 177 Serbian and 120 Turkish companies from all sectors, including the food industry and the construction, tourism and IT sectors.

"This is a week of good news - Serbia has obtained investment-grade credit rating and the market in which Serbian products are available duty-free has been increased to 2.8 billion people," Cadez said at the forum, also attended by the presidents of Serbia and Turkey, Aleksandar Vucic and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He said Serbia's joining of the Global Battery Alliance was the beginning of a new era, creating an opportunity for Serbia to be a key factor in a new green industry revolution.

Nail Olpak, president of Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board, said the volume of bilateral trade with Serbia had been increased and was expected to grow further.

"I think that the ability to travel without a visa will contribute to that. I know that travel with ID only is something on which work is underway," he said.

He said he expected the Serbian government to do everything it could to enable Turkish companies to operate in several sectors in Serbia as SMEs.

Olpak noted that digital transition and green transition were important topics and that he believed the two countries could take joint steps in that direction as well.