Vice President of the BASF Group: Open Balkans is a step towards a free trade zone

The vice president of the German BASF group, which also operates in the Western Balkans region, Thomas Narbeshuber praised the Open Balkans initiative, stressing that it is an excellent first step in approaching the free trade zone.

"We welcome the Open Balkans initiative. It is an excellent step forward. Three countries are currently part of that initiative, and I would be happy if at the end all six countries of the Western Balkans are included," Narbeshuber, who participated in the meeting in Savudrija, told for Kosovo Online. Strategic Economic Dialogue" organized by the Southeast European Business Development Network (SEEBDN) from Vienna.

BASF is one of the world's largest chemical companies and leaders in the chemical industry and has been operating in Serbia for years, and Narbershuber points out that they see great growth potential in this region.

He notes that in the last 10 years the company has "grown" between seven and eight percent per year, precisely thanks to the fact that the Western Balkans region is developing well.

That is why the BASF group is thinking about the constant expansion of business on an annual basis.

"When we talk about the specifics of new technologies, materials for making batteries, energy transmission, the Western Balkans has a particularly great potential with solar and wind energy, as well as with the delivery of rare raw materials. And when we talk about agriculture, many foodstuffs come precisely from the Western Balkans. That's why this remains a very relevant region for us," said Narbershuber.

The company BASF employs approximately 111,000 people globally, in various production segments - chemicals, materials, industrial solutions, surface technologies, nutrition and care, and solutions for agriculture.

During 2022, the company BASF achieved sales worth around 87.3 billion euros.