The Director of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) Gordan Milinić has organized a meeting with the Director of Boxmark Ltd Matej Bastič in order to try to solve the administrative problems that this company faces on its way of expanding existing and realization of new investments in BiH.

Boxmark Ltd, which represents an Austrian investment, is engaged in the production of upholsteries that are exported to the EU and beyond. It owns a factory in Lukavac that opened in February 2016 with the employment of 200 workers in that period. In December 2017, the factory has 440 workers. Considering that they are planning to expand the existing factory and build new halls and plants in order to increase the number of employees to at least 1,100 workers, they also bought new land.

As a condition for further investment, Boxmark Ltd requested the competent authorities in BiH to abolish tariffs on imports of tanned and finished leather, for which it received support from the Government of the Tuzla Canton, the chambers of commerce of BiH, FBiH and RS. The money that the state would lose at customs would have been returned to the budget by paying taxes and contributions for over 1,100 workers. It is expected the final position of the competent authorities on this issue.  If the answer was negative, further investments and new employment would be stopped. There is also a fear that an investor might leave BiH if this problem is not solved.

FIPA has intervened in the resolution of the above-mentioned issue, especially considering the existing number of employees of the company and the announced employment up to 1,100, and provided support to BOXMARK for further expansion and new investments.

FIPA will do everything within its competence to keep the investor in BiH.