Bosnia’s Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister Mirko Sarovic is taking part in the third ministerial conference on the promotion of trade and economic cooperation of the “16+1” group, in Ningbo, China. Sarovic was invited to the conference by Chinese Trade Minister Zhong Shan.

Bosnian and Chinese ministers confirmed that Bosnia and Herzegovina and China concluded the negotiations on veterinary medicine, which will allow Bosnian exporters to export products to the vast Chinese market. The signing of this agreement was set to take place during the Sofia “16+1” Summit, in July 2018.

Minister Shan invited Sarovic and Bosnian entrepreneurs to take part in the next Shanghai Imports Fair in November 2018 which will gather thousands of import-oriented Chinese companies.

Sarovic also met with Chinese International Trade Minister Fu Zi Ying with whom he concluded that coming into force of the visa-free regime between the two countries will attract around 100,000 Chinese tourists to Bosnia. The visa-free regime will also boost the economic cooperation between Bosnia and Cina, significantly.

The 16+1 group is an initiative by the People’s Republic of China aimed at intensifying and expanding cooperation with 11 EU Member States and 5 Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia) in the fields of investments, transport, finance, science, education, and culture. In the framework of the initiative, China has defined three potential priority areas for economic cooperation: infrastructure, high technologies, and green technologies.