President Erdoğan: Our trade volume with Serbia continued its steady rise despite the pandemic
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered remarks at a joint press conference with President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia in Belgrade.
“OUR RELATIONS WITH SERBIA IMPROVE FURTHER DAY BY DAY”
Thanking President Vučić for his hospitality, President Erdoğan said: “We have had highly productive talks both in bilateral and interdelegational formats. We have discussed in detail our relations, and the steps we will take in the period ahead. We have exchanged views regarding regional and international matters, the developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular. Our relations with Serbia, which are already at an excellent level, improve further day by day.”
Noting that the protocol on travelling with ID cards would take the relations to the next level, President Erdoğan said: “After the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldovia, Serbia will be the 6th country where it is possible to travel reciprocally with ID cards with chips.”
Stating that economic and commercial relations with Serbia were the engine of bilateral cooperation, President Erdoğan said: “Our bilateral trade volume has continued its steady rise despite the conditions of the pandemic. Last year, we have neared the level of $2 billion with a rise of over 33 percent. I believe we will continue to work with the same determination to achieve our shared goal of $5 billion.”
“The Türkiye-Serbia Business Forum, which we will attend with President Vučić, is a symbol of our will,” President Erdoğan said. “Our contractors have carried out 50 projects with a value of $847 million so far in Serbia. I would like to take this occasion to thank my dear friend President Vučić for his support to our entrepreneurs. The newly-completed Novi Pazar-Tutin State Road is an outcome of President Vučić’s visionary approach. TİKA will have completed 350 projects and activities in Serbia by year’s end. We will begin as soon as possible the restoration of the Bayraklı Mosque, which is our shared historical and cultural heritage.”
“Every year, many of our citizens, living in Europe and travelling by land to Türkiye stop over Niš,” President Erdoğan noted. “Therefore, we have opened a consular office in Niš. Our consular office will not only serve our citizens, but also contribute to developing our commercial, economic and cultural relations.”
“WE HAVE SINCERELY SUPPORTED THE RESOLUTION OF PROBLEMS THROUGH DIALOGUE”
Reaffirming the importance Türkiye attached to peace and stability in the Balkans, President Erdoğan said: “We are highly pleased to see that an agreement has been reached on border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo with ID cards. We hope an agreement will also be reached soon on other matters, the issue of license plates in particular. We have always sincerely supported the resolution of problems through dialogue, and we continue to do so. When asked for help, we make the necessary contributions by using all our means in a constructive and objective manner. We stand ready to do our part in bringing together parties in a format agreed upon by the three communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
