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To strengthen political and economic bilateral relations, H.E. Siniša Bencun, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria, visited Styria at the end of February together with the Honorary Consul for Bosnia, Mr. Jörg Hofreiter.
During talks at the Internationalization Center Styria (ICS), Ambassador Bencun and the Managing Director of the ICS, Karl Hartleb, analyzed the current state of relations. The Ambassador emphasized the importance of Styria as a strategic partner for Bosnia and Herzegovina and their shared interests. Both sides highlighted the significance of cooperation in the metal processing sector, which has developed very positively over the years. This has strengthened the Bosnian economy in a key sector and supported the global competitiveness of Styrian mechanical and plant engineering firms.
Furthermore, investment opportunities, know-how transfer, and potential networking events—for example, in the fields of municipal technology, sourcing, and IT, in cooperation with the Foreign Trade Center Sarajevo—were discussed. Ambassador Bencun expressed concern regarding the brain drain from which his country suffers significantly, making collaborative forms of cooperation necessary.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the second-largest country in the Western Balkans. The country records a trade surplus with both Styria and Austria as a whole, partly due to contract manufacturing for domestic companies. More than 200 Austrian subsidiaries, many of them from Styria, have since established themselves in Bosnia and Herzegovina and play an important role in the local economy.
