BUSINESS FORUM ITALY-BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA

The "Italy-Bosnia Herzegovina Business Forum" will be held in Sarajevo (date tbd)  and will focus on the following sectors:

· Agri-Tech

· Green transition

· Steel and electrical industry

The program includes an institutional plenary session, sectoral tables and BtoB meetings.

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With its 51,000 square kilometers of land and approximately 3.53 million inhabitants, Bosnia and Herzegovina serves as a natural market outlet for Made in Italy products.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has a tax and customs system favorable to investments, abundant industrial and free trade zones, and is configured as a strategic market for a variety of reasons, including: monetary stability due to its fixed exchange rate with the euro, geographical proximity, and most importantly, the availability of natural resources and raw materials (mainly forestry and minerals).

Given these resources and the sectors that local governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina aim to develop, major opportunities for Italian companies are concentrated in the following sectors:
- Agri-tech, with particular attention to the modernization of agricultural machinery (tractors, seeders, agricultural hoists, fertilizer spreaders, tanks and similar) and the enhancement of infrastructure such as agricultural irrigation and drainage systems;
- Green transition, specifically, investments in solid waste management, waste water purification, increasing the efficiency of aqueducts, strengthening separate waste collection and industrial pollution control systems;
- Steel and electrical industry, which are both already developed but lack new technologies and machinery to increase productivity.

To provide a full economic picture, in the first half of 2023 Italy ranked as the country's second-largest trading partner, according to data from the Statistical Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The total trade volume amounts to 1,316.8 million euros, consisting of 388.3 million euros in Bosnian exports to Italy and 928.5 million euros in imports from Italy. This results in a trade surplus in favor of Italy, amounting to 544.2 million euros.

Today, we count approximately 80 Italian companies that have made direct investments or established joint ventures with local partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the presence of Italian banking institutions, such as Unicredit (the largest capitalized company in the country) and Intesa Sanpaolo, is particularly significant in the financial sector.