Defense Industry: BiH and US Contracts Worth $200 Million Soon

Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Erdal Trhulj announced today in Sarajevo, following a meeting with Dr. Michael Haltzel, an associate from the Center for Transatlantic Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, that contracts in the defense industry worth between $150 and $200 million should be signed soon, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

He explained that an American company would export products from the Igman factory in Konjic, BINAS from Bugojno, and PRETIS from Sarajevo, and that all three contracts should be realized by the end of summer 2015.

Trhulj emphasized that this would create conditions for the recovery of these factories and potentially enable the launch of new production lines.

He added that the meeting discussed his recent visit to the US, where possibilities for business cooperation between the two countries in the energy and industry sectors, with an emphasis on the defense industry, were presented, and contacts were made with a large number of investment funds.

Trhulj stressed that the open energy market, which has been in preparation for the past three and a half years, should become operational at the beginning of next year, which will attract significant investments.

Haltzel said the conversation was very interesting and covered many topics – from the BiH economy, BiH-US relations, to the recently held elections.