In Bijeljina, the Head of the Representative Office of the Republic of Srpska in Austria, Mladen Filipović, presented to export-oriented businessmen from the region the way of establishing cooperation with the Austrian business, which has proven to be very successful in past years.

‘It turns out that the wood processing and metal sectors fare the best on the Austrian market’, Filipović told reporters ahead of the presentation held at the Culture Center.

According to him, the Representation does market research, establishes contacts and prepares meetings for visits of domestic delegations to Austria, and it turns out that in 80 percent of cases, good cooperation has been achieved.

‘Our goal is to succeed together and for our businessmen to enter the Austrian market and, if they have already succeeded in that, to improve their operation. The Republic of Srpska Representation is there as a service and always available to businessmen’, Filipović pointed out.

Conveying Austrian business experiences, he said that due to Covid-19 and the situation in Ukraine, Austrian businessmen, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, were intensively looking for partners in the region.

‘Many of them are already turning away from Asia and looking regionally to establish the best possible communication’, Filipović said and noted that Austrians expected quality, perhaps not at the lowest possible prices, but indeed quality, a relationship of partnership and long-term cooperation.

‘Everything that is done with the Austrian business and that has proven to be successful should be regarded in a long term, and every company from the Republic of Srpska that operates successfully in Austria is the one that plans to do so for the next 10 years. Our goal is for our companies that obtain the opportunity to do so in Austria’, said Filipović.

According to him, Austria is one of the most important foreign trade partners, with a very positive trend, as well as one of the largest investors in the Republic of Srpska and BiH.

‘Austria is very important for us as a business partner, they value our businessmen and products, and our goal is further promotion of the Republic of Srpska and our companies in Austria’, said Filipović.

Aleksandar Đurđević, the President of Bijeljina City Assembly that initiated the today’s presentation, told journalists that the goal of the meeting was for domestic businessmen to see the possibilities of entering the Austrian market, especially people managing small and medium-sized enterprises.

‘We want to open the doors of the Austrian market to our businessmen through the institutions and Republic of Srpska Representation in this country, that they connect with the institutions and companies in Austria, and to agree on concrete ways in which this can be done, in the interest of the city and the businessmen who work here and the citizens who live here’, said Đurđević.

Source and photo: InfoBijeljina