Turks interested in building hotels in Serbia

Over the past few months, Turkish businessmen have been expressing interest in investing in the hotel business in Serbia, Belgrade in particular, Stevan Nikcevic, the state secretary within the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, said Monday.

- Serbia can learn a lot from Turkey when it comes to tourism and hotel business, and this is a sector where aside from investments, we need know-how that we can get from Turkey - Nikcevic said at the Serbian-Turkish Business Forum that brought together over 200 businessmen.

He said that Turkish businessmen had already recognized an opportunity to invest in Serbia, adding that their most significant investments so far had been directed at the textile industry.

Pointing to the advantages of investing in Serbia, Nikcevic stressed that Turkish companies could gain unrestricted access to the market of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as to the EU.

He underlined that Serbia had liberalized trade in all industrial goods with the EU, adding that the same was likely to be done soon with agricultural products as well.

Nikcevic reminded that apart from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Turkey was one of the few countries with which Serbia had signed a free trade agreement.

He added that investors can also count on incentives for the creation of new jobs in Serbia.