Trhulj: Turkey to save TRZ from Hadžići and "Zrak"

Erdal Trhulj, Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry, is visiting Turkey where he discussed stronger cooperation in the defense industry with several officials and ministers. Trhulj told the Patria News Agency that he specifically discussed four projects, and that the Turks are very interested in two of them.

- Representatives of "Makina kimya" and representatives of the Turkish Land Forces visited three times last year for a project that was carried out by the Technical Overhaul Institute (TRZ) from Hadžići. On February 19th, they were officially presented with an offer for that project. The value is 25 million dollars, and my visit to Turkey was for the purpose of meeting with their Secretary General for National Defence, Murad Bayar, who is in charge of this cooperation and assessing the justification of this offer – Trhulj said.

As further stated by Minister Trhulj for NAP, their main assessment after the meeting was that this project is exceptionally good and that they will send their delegation to assess whether this cooperation can be developed.

- If cooperation were to occur, this 25 million dollar deal would mean salvation for TRZ, and it would be a long-term cooperation because it is a project that will be developed over the next 10 years. And it would certainly be salvation for the TRZ factory, not only for the current number of employees but also for a significantly larger number – Trhulj added.

The second project is also related to the Land Forces and concerns optical instruments produced by "Zrak".

- No official offer has been submitted for this yet, but the estimated value is around 15 million dollars. If we manage to realize this, it would be salvation for these two factories and their future operations – Trhulj emphasized.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has been trying to establish stronger cooperation in the defense industry for the past two years.

- We had some minor contracts through their state company "Makina kimya" and "Igman" Konjic. It was mainly for the supply of ammunition produced by "Igman".