Sarajevo Aims to Lure Foreign Investors

At the forum, organised by Bosna Bank International and the Islamic Development Bank, about 300 investors were offered some 150 projects worth €14.7 billion.

Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, president of chambers of commerce in Saudi Arabia, said he would do his best to have Saudi businesses invest $50 million in Bosnia by the next forum, Sarajevo news agencies reported.

Since the war in the 1990s, Bosnia has struggled to create a healthy environment for foreign investments, and has remained low on the global Doing Business index for years, ranking 110 out of 183 in the 2011 index.

Bosnia's Foreign Investment Promotion Agency said on Thursday that the biggest obstacle for entrepreneurs is the business environment, which, in turn, includes a wide range of areas, such as the troubled political situation, poor infrastructure, inefficient administration, customs and the taxation sectors.

Turkey’s Economy Minister Ali Babacan said his country was interested in investing in Bosnia and the wider Balkans, and announced that Turkish state import-export lender Eximbank will extend credit lines for projects in Bosnia.

Babacan said at the conference that Eximbank is now fully ready to finance major investment projects in Bosnia, including roads, energy and infrastructure projects.

“We believe that companies and investors who act now will get good results,” he said.

Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the president of Turkey’s union of chambers of commerce, said now was a good time to invest in the Balkans as all countries were progressing toward membership in the European Union, Reuters reports.

Government officials and businessmen from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region and the world attended this year's forum, along with dozens of ambassadors and other diplomats, the forum’s PR office announced.

At last year’s forum, 157 projects were offered to investors, worth in total about €12 billion. A number of large scale projects are now in the implementation phase, Bosna Bank International’s CEO said.