Serbian, Turkish exhibitors at textile trade fair

NOVI PAZAR - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic opened on Thursday a textile fair in Novi Pazar, with 36 exhibitors from Turkey and Serbia.

Addressing the participants of the Balkan Textile trade fair, Ljajic pointed that this event opens new prospects not only for the textile industry, but also for the economic relations between the two countries.

“Serbia must increase its trade with Turkey to EUR 1 billion, and that is a realistic goal considering that Serbia and Turkey have not yet activated all their potentials to improve their cooperation,” he said.

Ljajic noted that Novi Pazar (central Serbia) should reemerge as the center of textile industry in the country due to its top quality and highly skilled workforce and over twenty years of tradition in the sector.

“We must invest in new technologies, and prevent illicit trade,” stressed the minister, emphasizing that Serbia wants a legal textile market.

“We want Turkish companies participating in this fair to not only sell their products in Serbia, but also to set up their production facilities here, for which the state would provide incentives,” said Ljajic.

The fair opening was attended by the Turkish ambassador to Serbia Mehmet Kemal Bozay, who said that his country wants Novi Pazar to be the bridge of economic cooperation not only with Sandzak (old name of the Serbian region of Raska during the Ottoman rule), but also a bridge of cooperation between the two countries.

Director of the Turkish textile company 'Meridyen' Oguz Yalcin noted that the textile fair is a good chance for textile companies from Turkey to present themselves, but also an opportunity...