Esteemed President Erdoǧan, let me, once again, welcome you to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This is our second meeting this year as we met already in Ankara. You are here with us today. In the meantime, Prime Minister Yildirim visited Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have maintained a good dynamics of mutual visits.

Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina have excellent relations. Turkey has supported us in the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), in our aspirations concerning the European Union, our membership in the European Union and NATO, as well as in the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas Bosnia and Herzegovina has supported Turkey in regards to the stability of that part of the region. We extend our congratulations to you for your strength demonstrated there in order to stabilize the situation not only in Turkey but for the entire Europe by doing that job. You have succeeded in taking care in a very humane way of three million refugees, in mitigating that pressure advanced towards Europe. You have been fighting with the terrorists from DAESH, FETO, and PKK. Your military actions conducted at the borders of Turkey did not result in large numbers of victims. Moreover, such actions were very successful in a military sense.

Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina have the highest number of signed agreements. Therefore, the economic cooperation has grown significantly and its current trend is to grow further. In the previous year the trading between our two countries rose to almost 800,000,000 American Dollars, which was doubled compared to the situation four years ago. I hope that many free trade agreements which we should sign shortly will additionally strengthen this cooperation, so that we will exceed the trading worth 1 billion Euros shortly. In particular, those parts of the agreement are important which refer to the meat quotas, which will be defined and fixed at eight thousand tons a year of exports to Turkey by preferential prices, which are somewhat higher than the current market prices, and we will be safe for five years in this way. So far this was done each year anew to ensure that sufficient time and incentives for the people to develop that business. Concerning the wheat flour, sugar and oil quotas, which will be exported from Bosnia and Herzegovina, we are talking about tens of thousands of tons in the forthcoming period. The most important project we discussed today with the Turkish side was, of course, the construction of the motorway ring leading to Belgrade via Tuzla and Bijeljina, and returning through Požega and Višegrad to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The feasibility study, completed by the Turkish side, is not too optimistic regarding the south branch of this road, i.e. there is no sufficient frequency over Goražde, so that, probably, we will have to decide to go for a slightly cheaper version of a fast road. After the meeting between the delegations, we continued the meeting with the prime ministers and ministers of traffic of both countries only, and it was agreed that in the summer we would launch a public call, a procurement notice which will define potential investors and builders of this road. A letter of intentions was signed today in this sense – the two ministers signed the letter of intentions containing the main elements. We support continuation of the bilateral cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey and Serbia, and we hope that during the summer we will have a meeting in this sense. Further, the present meeting, which was supposed to be an official one, was turned into a working one. We were supposed to hold one in late June. There is still time enough to organize an official visit, too in the course of July or August, particularly if by we get to have new elements concerning the construction of the motorway. 

The Turkish credit line has had excellent effects. It employed thousands of returnees to RS, and some in the FBiH as well, and ensured a normal living standard to dozens of thousands of families. I believe that we will soon have a response from the Turkish side, i.e. that the credit line concerned will be extended, and that it will be available for ten more years again, while we still have four years remaining to implement the current one. This cooperation should be mutual, so that today we noted with care the remark made by the Turkish side which re-iterated a lack of raw material for the two large Turkish investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. for the Sisecam in Lukavac, and for the Natron Hayat. Bosnia and Herzegovina promised to provide a stable supply with the raw materials, and it does not meet that condition. Thus, we will have to invest an additional effort in order to keep these investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in order to get, eventually, new hundreds of jobs which they are offering if we succeed in guaranteeing the raw materials.  

I informed Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan about the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I think that the image projected by the media is somewhat worse than the actual situation. Namely, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a very active attitude of the Council of Ministers, the present ministers and the Council of Ministers’ Chairman, has actually arrived to the front door of the European Union, and the front door of the NATO Alliance membership. We have followed the region on economic issues, so that we are not lagging behind at all. In increased exports, which reached almost 17% last year, we are the leader in the region. We are the leader in the region in terms of reduction of the number of unemployed persons. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the least indebted country in Europe. Thank you.

Address by Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan, President of the Republic of Turkey:

Esteemed Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, esteemed ministers, and esteemed media representatives!

I hereby extend my most cordial and respectful greetings to all of you. It is my great pleasure and honour, after three years, to be in Bosnia and Herzegovina again.  

Let me, once again, extend my thanks to Bakir Izetbegović, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina for his hospitality to me and my delegation.

We held very constructive bilateral and inter-delegation discussions. We discussed in detail a number of issues focused on politics, culture, tourism, transport and agriculture, i.e. on what we could do and on which steps we would make. 

We discussed the bilateral relations and many issues, including economics, trade, infrastructure, transport, energy and tourism. Moreover, we discussed specific applied industry sectors. We would like to advance our cooperation in all these areas in the forthcoming period, too.

Turkey will continue to provide all kinds of assistance for preservation of stability, peace and prosperity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Let me, once again, confirm hereafter the importance we attach to the preservation of territorial integrity of the united and sovereign state which consists of the two entities and one district. I wish that the forthcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina contribute to enhancement of peace, stability and prosperity.

We will hold our elections on the 24^th of June. There will be the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October. I hope that these elections will be opportunities for enhancement of our relations. I hope that the elections will be held in accordance with the democratic rules, in peace, and in a transparent and fair way. We believe that the issue of changes of the Election Law, which is an important issue on the agenda in this election period, is an internal issue of this country, and we believe that the parties will resolve this issue in accordance with the reason, dialogue and mutual understanding.

Esteemed media representatives, we have advanced our trading, and, in a short period, we would like to increase its worth to one billion dollars. We already have sufficient willingness and readiness to achieve this. Therefore, it is of huge importance to sign a new Free trade agreement promptly in order to continue to work on the basis of it. Likewise, it is our shared wish to ensure that all agreements needed for continuation of the negotiations enter into force as soon as possible. An intense cooperation between our officials will be continued in the areas of transport, logistics, energy, tourism, agriculture and livestock sectors. We have encouraged the Turkish companies to implement large investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the whole of Balkans alike.

Our country has provided a strong support to infrastructure and transportation projects in this region. The Turkish companies are always ready to participate in these projects. I believe that the Turkish companies will work more on the infrastructural projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I believe that the project on Belgrade-Sarajevo motorway will be the best example of such infrastructure building projects.

Likewise, we attach a huge importance to establishment of regional relations, which will be based on trust. These relations will be led by the relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia and Serbia.

We will continue to implement the triple mechanisms with significant contributions provided by all sides, between Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

Dear friends, we will continue to work actively in order to activate the NATO Membership Action Plan as soon as possible, and we will never leave Bosnia alone on this path. It is our great pleasure that Bosnia and Herzegovina fulfilled its obligation within the European integration process. It is very important that Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted its replies to the European Union questionnaire on 28 February. We hope that such acceleration achieved within the European integration process will be continued without delays.

Following the attempt of a military coup on 15 July, let me, on my own and on behalf of my people, re-iterate my gratitude to Bosnia and Herzegovina for its solidarity demonstrated in relation to Turkey. As also underlined by Mr Izetbegović, FETO has continued to exist as an octopus grabbing all levels of the society. Therefore, we have to conduct a huge fight against this issue. We also expect that the efforts and measures against all structures of the terrorist FETO organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina will get completed as soon as possible. We are ready for all kinds of cooperation on this issue, and we will continue to cooperate with the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to implement the specific steps. Turkey will continue to provide support to Bosnia and Herzegovina in all areas. Our country has not had and will not have any hidden intention or agenda other than establishing prosperity, unity and economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in the area of economic development and the issue of sending 8,000 tons of meat. I believe that this is insufficient. As we said today, we can increase this figure to 15,000 tons, and this will contribute significantly to new employments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I used to work a bit in this sector in the past, and I am very well familiar with it. I know what livestock means, and I know what sliced meat means, too. Therefore, we can contribute, through our joint work, to Bosnia’s huge progress on this issue.

Finally, let me reiterate my thanks for your hospitality and close friendship, and extend my most sincere selams and greetings to all of you.