Four Turkish textile companies wish to open factories in Serbia for which they are in advanced talks with the Serbian government. Earlier this month, Trade Minister Raim Ljajic said that two Turkish textile companies plan to start investing in Serbia later in March, encouraged by the good business climate in the country.

Minister Ljajic went on to say that it was important that Turkish textile companies were interested in investing in undeveloped areas of Serbia. They want to promote a new way of attracting investors where the state restores and reconstructs old facilities in order to make them fit for production launch.,

Serbia plans to promote a model that involves the reconstruction of old and abandoned halls where interested investors could install machinery and immediately start production.

The model is currently being applied for industrial halls in the towns of Lebane, Lazarevac, Kraljevo, Nis and Leskovac, Ljajic said during the opening of the Balkan Textile Belgrade 2017 last week.

An agreement on opening of a wool factor in Lebane has been signed and the factory will employ 300 workers.

According to data from Serbia’s statistical office, Sebia's imports from Turkey has increased by 18.1 percent to 74.3 billion dinars against exports to Turkey 10.8 percent , a 30 billion dinars ($258.4 million/242.1 million euro) in 2016.

Last year, Serbia exported textiles worth 497 million US dollars which is a huge increase compared to the year 2000 when the export amounted to 150 million dollars also 136 Turkish companies registered their business activity in Serbia.