Ahead of visit to Turkey, Dodik expects Erdogan to say that a government needs to be formed

(Patria) - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik and member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Šefik Džaferović, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will pay an official visit to the Republic of Turkey tomorrow, May 2. The third member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, will not travel to Turkey due to a doctor's recommendation, but a representative of Komšić's Cabinet will travel to Turkey.

After the joint trip to Brussels where they spoke with European officials, this is the first official joint visit of members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina to a president of another country.

It is expected that the topics of discussion will be the improvement of cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey in the fields of agriculture, tourism and trade, as well as the Sarajevo-Belgrade highway, which should be financed by Turkey.

Milorad Dodik stated that his motive for the visit to the Republic of Turkey is aimed at improving economic relations. The key issue, he says, is to start talks on Turkish support for the construction of the Sarajevo-Belgrade highway route, which has been defined at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They will also discuss the formation of a government at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dodik says. He expects, he stated, to hear from the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that the formation of a government at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina is necessary.

"I expect to hear that from Erdoğan, which would mean that those in Sarajevo have reconsidered when it comes to obstructing the formation of the government... Yesterday I received a note stating that diplomatic representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU held a meeting where it was clearly stated that the EU is preparing to give an opinion on candidate status for Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU membership by the end of May... However, this will not happen if the government is not formed, not only at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Dodik said.