Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "As Türkiye and Serbia, we must take a step hand in hand. This step is the establishment of a defense industry between us aimed at ensuring peace."during talks with Aleksandar Vucic, his Serbian counterpart, in the capital Belgrade on Friday.
"I am very pleased to be here with you again in Belgrade after two years. On the occasion of the 4th meeting of our High-Level Cooperation Council, we thoroughly discussed our bilateral relations. Both our joint and inter-delegation consultations gave us signals that important developments may occur in the future. In your presence, we signed 11 agreements that will strengthen the legal foundation of our relations. Additionally, we exchanged views on global and regional issues, particularly concerning the Balkans, the Middle East, and Ukraine.
As Mr. Vucic mentioned, we are witnessing a golden age in our relations with Serbia. Thanks to our increasingly developing relations, we opened a Consulate General in Novi Pazar in 2021 and consular offices in Niš in 2022, in addition to our embassy in Belgrade. The driving force of our bilateral cooperation is our economic and trade relations. Our trade volume exceeded $2 billion for two consecutive years. We are determined to continue taking joint steps to achieve our shared goal of $5 billion. By the end of this year, we expect the number of tourists from Serbia to Türkiye to surpass the record set in 2022. With the implementation of travel by identity cards, the number of mutual tourists will significantly increase.
Our investments in Serbia have grown from $1 million to $405 million in the last 12 years. Our companies have provided employment for approximately 9,600 people in Serbia. Our contractors have reached a business volume of $1 billion with 95 projects. Over 10,000 workers in the construction sector are contributing to Serbia. My dear friend Vucic, who has always supported our investors, has played a significant role in this success. I thank him once again.
In addition to our bilateral relations, we also exchanged views on current regional and global developments with Mr. President. We once again emphasized the importance of peace and stability in the Balkans. In this regard, it is clear that a calm approach to the recent tensions between Serbia and Kosovo is essential. We also reaffirmed our countries' commitment to maintaining stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I emphasized the importance of Serbia's constructive approach in helping Bosnia and Herzegovina move beyond its political fragility.
During our consultations, we reiterated our support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. I shared with my counterpart our determination to continue efforts toward achieving lasting peace. The tragedies unfolding in Gaza, the occupied Palestinian territories, and Lebanon were also naturally on our agenda. It is time to say 'stop' to Israel's attacks, which trample on human dignity. The root cause of the issue is the continued occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel. Therefore, an independent, sovereign, and geographically integrated Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, must be established. Since October 7, nine countries have recognized the State of Palestine. I once again call on the countries that have not yet done so to recognize Palestine. The international community has a fundamental responsibility to send the right messages to Israel and put an end to the ongoing massacre.
With these thoughts, I once again thank President Vucic and all our friends for their warm hospitality. During our bilateral meeting, we made the decision to continue our cooperation, based on mutual interests, in political, military, economic, commercial, tourism, and defense industry matters. I hope that our consultations and decisions will lead to positive outcomes.
As Türkiye and Serbia, we must take a step hand in hand. This step is the establishment of a defense industry aimed at ensuring peace between us. In our bilateral talks, we agreed to this and assigned our teams to the task. Now, our teams will carry out the necessary work. No one else should attempt to define what the content of our defense industry cooperation with Serbia should be. We are not just any country. We are Türkiye, and we are Serbia. Our teams will conduct the necessary discussions, and we will move forward together. We have capabilities, and Serbia has capabilities. By utilizing these resources in the best way possible, we will move forward into the future.
Türkiye's capabilities in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will certainly play a role in the steps to be taken in the defense industry. As I mentioned, Serbia also has capabilities in this area. Together, as two friendly nations, we will evaluate these resources. For this reason, we have assigned tasks to our Foreign Ministers and Defense Industry Directors. They will carry out the necessary work, and we will gradually take our steps. There may be those who are pleased with the steps we take, and there may be those who are not. But as political leaders, we will make decisions together with our colleagues and move forward. The key issue is to maintain control over the decisions and steps we take along the way. Both Mr. Vucic and I have the power to do this, and we will do it together."
