Europe

Home page

Europe

Turkey, Serbia to boost economic ties

10 March 2011 22:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkish and Serbian leaders said Thursday the two countries have great potential in economic cooperation and will boost trade and mutual investment, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

Turkey and Serbia have not fully tapped the potential in bilateral trade while there are remarkable opportunities for Turkish companies to undertake infrastructure projects, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a joint press conference with visiting Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic.

"We encourage our businessmen to benefit from Serbia’s economic potential as soon as possible," said Erdogan.

Cvetkovic said he wants to see better economic and political relations between Serbia and Turkey, noting that the two countries ’ current 400 million-U.S. dollar trade volume is not satisfactory.

Turkish entrepreneurs are interested in many motorway construction projects in Serbia, while Serbia intends to strengthen cooperation with Turkey on civil aviation, said Cvetkovic.

He also thanked Turkey for helping evacuate Serbian nationals from the unrest-hit Libya.

Erdogan said Turkey and Serbia share common understanding in many regional and international issues, describing Serbia as an element of stability and a leading actor in the Balkans.

The two countries signed several agreements on cooperation in fighting terrorism and organized crimes and in environmental area on Thursday.