Johannes Hahn, former EU commissioner, adviser to the Federation of Austrian Industry and from January 1, 2026, the new president of the Main Council of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), received today in Vienna Samir Šibonjić, Minister of Economy of the Zenica-Doboj Canton and the delegation of the International General BH Business Fair ZEPS, which included director Elvir Ajanović, executive director Sanel Ibrić, director of corporate communications Adis Hasaković, as well as Hurem Avdić, director of ViennaLink, business agency representing ZEPS in Austria.
Next, a meeting was held with Igor Sekardi, director of the Department of External Relations and Markets of this influential industrial institution in Austria.
The topic of discussion was the institutional positioning of ZEPS, the role of Austria in economic cooperation, opportunities and joint initiatives, as well as opportunities for investing in the Zenica-Doboj Canton and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. The delegation also took the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Hahn on his appointment as the new Governor of the Austrian Central Bank.
Mr. Hahn himself presented several ideas and suggestions on how to improve these relations in terms of institutional support for the appearance of Austrian companies at the ZEPS fair. The Federation of Austrian Industry will invite its 5,000 members, which are the largest Austrian companies, to participate in ZEPS next year.
In the second step, Mr. Hahn said that we should investigate which Austrian companies are present in BiH and organize fair presentations for them, as well as investment opportunities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what are the advantages and benefits of investing in our country.
Minister Šibonjić additionally invited Austrian investors to invest in ZDK, because there are excellent conditions, professional workforce, low profit tax, favorable energy prices, and numerous industrial zones. He presented the latest data on trade between the Zenica and Doboj cantons with Austria in the period January – September 2025. Thus, exports to Austria amounted to 154,516 million KM in this period, which is an increase compared to the same period of the previous year when it amounted to 146,942 million KM. Imports from Austria amounted to 66,827 million KM.
With the message “Business First”, the International General BH Business Fair ZEPS will be held from September 2 to 5, 2026. ZEPS is one of the fast-growing fairs that today represents the largest multi-sector business platform in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most significant in Southeast Europe. More than 500 exhibitors from more than 15 countries participate in the ZEPS fair every year. ZEPS is known for hosting an extremely large number of B2B meetings, and at the last fair alone, as many as 2,500 concrete business meetings were recorded, with concrete business agreements reached.
Precisely because of its reputation and regional importance, ZEPS 2026 is already positioned as the economic event of the year and a strategic place for strengthening regional and international economic cooperation, knowledge exchange and placement of products, innovations and technologies.
