(SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA) – Ukraine sent Bosnia and Herzegovina the text of a free trade agreement between the two countries in January and is waiting for a response.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Volodymyr Bachynskyi, said this in an interview with media.
The diplomat said transport liberalisation would benefit Ukraine because far more Ukrainian carriers transport goods to Bosnia and Herzegovina than Bosnian carriers transport to Ukraine.
“Without doubt, this will help increase trade turnover, which is unfortunately not very large at the moment, only a few tens of millions of US dollars by the end of 2025,” the ambassador said.
He explained that Bosnia currently applies a 10 percent duty on imports of goods from Ukraine. That automatically raises the cost of Ukrainian products on the domestic market.
“We are now actively working on concluding a free trade agreement between the two countries. This issue has been discussed at all levels, from the country’s leadership to the Chamber of Commerce. This was Ukraine’s initiative. The text of the agreement was sent to the Bosnian side back in January 2026. We are now waiting for a response. Unfortunately, there is none yet,” Mr Bachynskyi said.
He added that the process of agreeing the text of the document would require some time.
“But I constantly send the signal to the Bosnian side that such an agreement should be concluded, especially since Ukraine already has or is working on free trade agreements with most countries in the region,” the ambassador said.
Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina have agreed to liberalise freight transport. The move provides for the launch of transport visa free travel from 1 January 2027.