prijava
SARAJEVO, May 14 (FENA) - The United Kingdom Trade Commissioner for Europe Andrew Mitchell paid a two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 13-14 May 2019.
He met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Crnadak and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šarović to discuss continuation and growth of trade relations between the two countries, once the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
He also had a meeting with Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Prime Minister Fadil Novalić who briefed him on the status of the strategic investment projects and the work this entity is doing to improve the business environment. They discussed areas of potential for increased trade, including the IT sector, tourism, mining and the energy sector.
The Trade Commissioner also learnt first-hand about the sale of UK brands in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UK companies that operate here. Together with Ambassador Matt Field, the Trade Commissioner visited one of the Bingo supermarkets in Sarajevo where he was able to see a range of Tesco items from their first shipment to this market.
The UK was the 9th biggest investor in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018, with significant investments in services, energy, mining, paper packaging and plastics. The Trade Commissioner met representatives of UK companies, who shared their views about the business environment and investment opportunities.
He visited AC Betanija - the official distributor of Jaguar Land Rover cars, one of the leading British brands. He met with Alfa Energy Group, an energy consultancy specializing in energy cost management to learn about the effects of the energy market liberalization process, launched in 2015. He also discussed the start-up ecosystem with a group of local entrepreneurs such as Habeetat, Goody, Woopedu and Ant Colony, which participated in the Western Balkans Summit Start-up Games last year in London, as well as Ministry of Programming Sarajevo, Markeedo Banja Luka, Imicron Mostar, SPARK and HUB387.
Andrew Mitchell said how impressed he was with the quality and talent of particularly the young people he met, their dynamism and energy. The visit had given him a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities for doing business in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he hoped to see greater levels of trade and investment, in both directions, in the period ahead, stated the British Embassy Sarajevo.
(FENA) S. R.
