Despite the new circumstances, economic exchange between Austria and Republic of Srpska is at a very high level, as supported by the data that last year’s foreign trade amounted to BAM 519 million or BAM 81.7 million more than in 2020, said the head of the Srpska’s Representative Office in Austria, Mladen Filipović.

Filipović believes that there is room for strengthening of economic ties, both in the areas of the greatest interest, such as the metal and wood processing sectors, and in the processing industry and information and communications technology.

- In cooperation with the institutions of the Republic of Srpska, we will continue the activities to promote our economic potentials, such as training for export-oriented businessmen. We will continue to develop our Business Register which enables Austrian partners to obtain information in German about our export-oriented companies - said Filipović.

He pointed out that an outreach program was being pursued in parallel by targeted sending of offers of Republic of Srpska companies, depending on the sector, to the management of Austrian companies.

- We will continue to support the Investment Development Bank of the Republic of Srpska in presenting the investment profiles of municipalities and cities of the Republic of Srpska, as well as capital projects of the Government of the Republic of Srpska - said Filipović.

GREAT INTEREST IN ORGANIC PRODUCTS FROM SRPSKA

According to him, owing to the good cooperation with the Tourism Organization of the Republic of Srpska, the Representative Office will continue to work on promoting Srpska’s tourism potentials.

- The plan is to present our tourism products through direct contact with representatives of travel agencies and institutions in Austria. Within the strategy to promote Srpska’s tourism capacities, we have identified the potential of promoting domestic, organic products for which there is great interest in Austria, and we wish to present a promotion concept in Vienna modeled after the Krajina and Herzeg House, and we are currently analyzing the conditions for entering this market’, said Filipović.

UKC-AKH CLINIC COLLABORATION TO CONTINUE IN AUTUMN

In autumn, Filipović expects a continuation of the successful collaboration between the University Clinical Center /UKC/ of the Republic of Srpska and the Viennese AKH clinic.

- At the meeting held in June between the director general of the Republic of Srpska UKC, Vlado Đajić, and a doctor of the Vienna AKH clinic, Peter Frigo, it was agreed to continue the collaboration between the two health institutions and education of doctors from Banja Luka in Austria - Filipović reminded.

He pointed out that even in the new circumstances, the activities of the Representation continued with the same intensity, and that the main goal was to create opportunities for expanding cooperation with Austria in various areas.

- As a result of the Representation’s work on strengthening economic ties, we have identified more than 300 companies in Austria as potential partners, and through the Business Register we have prepared and translated information about more than 150 export-oriented companies from Srpska for the purpose of presentation at the Austrian market - Filipović said to Srna.

He stated that in the first half of this year, about 30 Austrian partners had requested information about companies from the Republic of Srpska.

- Among other things, in the metallurgy sector, we received inquiries from the companies Doka, Leitner, Palfinger and Austrian Railways, and the Austrian Vamed expressed interest in cooperation in project implementation on the international market - noted Filipović.

FOOD PRODUCTS FROM SRPSKA IN SPAR AND REWE STORES

According to him, in the information and communications technology sector, contact has been established with the companies A1 and Huawei, while retail chains OBI, Bauhaus, Spar and Rewe group have showed interest in cooperation.

Filipović also expressed satisfaction over the success, in cooperation with the Austrian Spar and Rewe groups, in putting food products from Srpska in their stores.

- It is a concrete result of cooperation. The plan is to enable even better product sale on the Austrian market for our food industry companies - said Filipović.

He noted that the Representation had been providing support for Pewag group’s investments in the Republic of Srpska in the past years.

- Our direct support contributed to the realization of one of the most significant investments in the metal sector in the Republic of Srpska, by the Austrian Pewag group in the amount exceeding BAM eight million including planned further investments in excess of BAM four million and creation of over 150 new jobs - emphasized Filipović.

Source and photo: SRNA