prijava
SARAJEVO, January 29 (FENA) - Bilateral relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece are very good, without open issues, but there is room for enhancement of cooperation in area of economy and foreign trade, said today Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turković after meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.
Minister Turković added that good relations between the two countries are confirmed by the signed bilateral agreements in area of economy, investment protection, defense, traffic, culture, education and science.
“These agreements are the foundation that corresponds to our future effort to improve cooperation, and I believe that cooperation will continue, especially in area of energy,” said Turkovic.
She reminded of the business forums of BiH and Greece that were held in recent years in Sarajevo and Athens, and expressed interest and expectation that they will continue to be held after the end of the pandemic. Turković said that it is in BiH's interest to improve foreign trade with Greece in the future, which currently does not meet our expectations. In the first nine months of 2020, imports from Greece amounted to KM 85 million, and exports from BiH were KM 9.8 million. She stated that an additional problem was the Covid-19 pandemic, due to which the total foreign trade in this period was reduced by as much as 56.7 percent.
“We deeply appreciate the views of Greece that the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans should be a priority not only for those countries but also for the EU, and in that context, regional cooperation is extremely important for us, which was recently strengthened by signing a statement on the common regional market within the Berlin Process,” said Turković.
In today's conversation, the officials paid special attention to the crisis, which is increasingly burdening BiH, and Minister Turković informed her colleague Dendias in detail about the current situation regarding migrants.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that during the talks, the need to strengthen bilateral relations in various areas was emphasized. In addition to political dialogue, according to him, they discussed strengthening economic cooperation in other areas, especially culture and education.
Dendias added that Greece provided support for three hospitals in BiH - 50 thousand euros for General Hospital "Prim. Dr. Abdulah Nakaš” Sarajevo and the University Clinical Center of Republika Srpska in Banja Luka each, and 30 thousand euros for the Clinical Hospital in Mostar.
“Greece constantly supports and is committed to all the countries of the Western Balkans joining the EU family. Greece did that some 40 years ago and we hope that the entire Western Balkans will do it. We hope that we will succeed in supporting BiH and the region of the Western Balkans not only as Greece, but as the entire EU,” stated Dendias.
Also, as he added, they discussed regional development and the need for good neighborly relations based on the principle of law.
(FENA) A. B.
