Milk and Honey: China Opens Door to Bosnian Exports

Producers of honey, milk and dairy products in Bosnia are licking their lips at the prospect of placing their goods on the Chinese market under a deal due to be signed at a summit in Sofia next month.

The two countries completed the last stage of negotiations - on veterinary medicine - at a ministerial conference in Ningbo in China on Thursday, part of China's so-called 16+1 initiative that has brought a surge in Chinese investment in infrastructure and related industries in Central and Eastern Europe and given China greater access to the European market.

The agreement is expected to be signed during the next summit of the 16+1 grouping - China, 11 EU members states and five non-EU Balkan countries - in the Bulgarian capital in July.

"This agreement will allow the export of honey, milk and dairy products from Bosnia to China and in a short time we can expect the first results, among other projects planned with China here in Bosnia," Mirko Sarovic, Bosnia's Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister, Federal News Agency, FENA, on Thursday.

Aleksandar Markovic, economics professor at the University of East Sarajevo, told BIRN:
"This is a new and quite big step for Bosnia considering the Chinese market."

In terms of dairy and honey, "we do have something to offer, " he said.

China ranks fifth in terms of imports into Bosnia with 558,000 euros-worth of goods in 2016, according to data from the Bosnian State Statistics Agency.

But only three per cent of Bosnian exports go to China, data from the Foreign Trade Chamber shows. Over the last four years Bosnia exported a total of 20 million euros-worth of goods to China, mainly wood and wood products.

Markovic said it was likely Bosnian exporters would have to meet...