The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is making an official visit to Serbia. The Turkish president arrived yesterday, Thursday, evening in Belgrade, coming from Tirana.

He was welcomed at the airport by the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, while today the official welcoming ceremony took place outside the government building “Palace of Serbia” in New Belgrade.

“Welcome to Serbia, dear friend. Your visit is another opportunity to further strengthen our friendly relations and cooperation. I believe that during your stay in Belgrade, we will work together to improve the economic, cultural and political ties between our countries,” wrote Aleksandar Vucic in an Instagram post.

This is Erdogan’s fourth visit to Serbia since 2017.

They are expected to dominate the meeting between the two presidents financial matters while a meeting of the Supreme Cooperation Council will also take place.

During the visit, the signing of various agreements of bilateral interest is planned.

Political issues will also be on the agenda of the Vucic-Erdogan talks, and especially the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, since Ankara seems disturbed by the separatist tendencies expressed by the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik. Aleksandar Vucic has for years maintained friendly relations with Erdogan whom he often describes as “a sincere friend of Serbia”.

The issue of Kosovo is a “thorn” in the relations between Belgrade and Ankara.

Turkey is the first country to recognize Kosovo as an independent state and has been arming its armed forces for the past two years, a fact that causes intense resentment in Belgrade.

Meeting the business world

Afterwards, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will participate in a business forum, where he will address a greeting together with his Serbian counterpart.

The Turkish president will meet with Turkish investors in Serbia as well as Serbian businessmen.

Hundreds of Turkish companies are active in Serbia in the textile, automotive, construction, banking and tourism sectors.

The goal set by the Turkish side for the annual volume of commercial transactions is 5 billion dollars.