Meeting at the FBiH Government: Support for New Investments

(Patria) - Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH Fadil Novalić, Federal Minister of Environment and Tourism Edita Đapo, and Federal Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry Šemsudin Dedić met today at the headquarters of the Federal Government in Sarajevo with a delegation from the Republic of Turkey, led by the Chargé d'Affaires at the Turkish Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina Ozgur Sahin.

Discussions focused on the intentions of the Turkish Sisecam group, owner of the Soda Lukavac factory, to further invest in this industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As announced, Şişecam is one of the largest Turkish investors in our country in terms of production capacity and employment. In the past 14 years, since privatizing the Lukavac factory, it has invested 300 million convertible marks. According to plans, the current annual production capacity of 585,000 tons should be increased by another 100,000 tons.

The Government of the Federation of BiH, as emphasized by Prime Minister Novalić, values the relations between the Republic of Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as evidenced by the Soda Lukavac factory. The Federal Government, through a set of new regulations, aims to create more favorable conditions for foreign investors, as this benefits not only the general economic development of our country but also the preservation of existing and creation of new jobs. The Sisecam group made its first investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina by purchasing the Soda Lukavac factory during the privatization process in 2006, and its other subsidiary is the Vijenac Limestone Mine. After joining the group, the Lukavac Soda factory doubled its production capacity and became one of the largest exporters from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This Turkish group, through its subsidiaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Turkey, achieves a total annual production of 2.4 million tons of soda, of which almost a quarter comes from the production facilities in Lukavac. Today's meeting was also attended by the Trade Advisor at the Turkish Embassy K. Sevgin Gungor, Vice President for Production of the Sisecam Chemical Group in Turkey Altug Sener, General Director of the Sisecam Soda Lukavac factory Sefa Ozincegedik, and the Technical Director of this factory Tekin Ozdemir.