Turkish businessmen want to invest in Serbia and are especially interested in building shopping malls, and investing in apartment and office buildings, Tanjug learned from the Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists of Turkey TUSKON.

Political relations between Serbia and Turkey have never been better, but economic cooperation is lagging behind, with only ten percent of the trade potential currently being exploited, said TUSKON Vice President Ahmet Ciger.

He said Turkish companies were very successful in the international market because they did quality work at competitive prices, adding they could also build road infrastructure in Serbia.

There are no particular obstacles to bigger economic cooperation, except the fact Turkish investors are not familiar enough with the Serbian market, but the country does offer a lot of investment opportunities, he said.

He noted that Serbia would probably become a full-fledged EU member country before Turkey, which Turkish textile, food and car parts industries could take advantage of, as the two countries have a free trade agreement.

In the two years since the agreement was signed, trade between the two countries has risen dramatically and keeps improving steadily, with Serbia's export/import coverage ratio reaching almost 50 percent in 2011.

Ciger said TUSKON would organize an event dubbed the World Trade Bridge between June 3 and 10, dedicated to civil engineering, construction material, furniture and the textile industry, which would also welcome seven companies from Serbia, through the Serbia International Trade Association, which connects Serbian and Turkish companies.

The unique event will bring together businessmen from 140 countries, from 1,500 foreign and 1,700 Turkish companies, Ciger said.

TUSKON connects over 160 business associations in Turkey with around 100,000 companies and business partners in 140 countries across the world.

Turkey is the world's 16th largest economy, which recoded an economic growth of eight percent in 2011 in the face of the global crisis.