People attend an international furniture fair held at the city hall Skenderija in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), March 13, 2019. (Xinhua/Nedim Grabovica)
SARAJEVO, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The 36th edition of the "Interio", the international fair of forestry, wood, furniture and interior design, kicked off on Wednesday here in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Exhibitors from Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Austria, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Turkey and BiH will participate in the fair that last till March 17.
An estimated 15,000 visitors will converge on Sarajevo in the next four days to check out novelties in furniture production.
This year's fair runs over three halls, where 80 exhibitors present furniture and equipment for interior and exterior design, Amer Kapo, director of the Skenderija Center, told Xinhua.
Since 1978, the fair has brought international and domestic exhibitors to Skenderija Center with the aim of stimulating the development of the wood industry, Kapo said.
Organized in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the country's Foreign Trade Chamber, a series of seminars will be held on topics related to the exports of basic woodworking industry products.
Ahmet Egrlic, deputy head of the Foreign Trade Chamber, emphasized the importance the fair, saying that wood processing is a significant branch of industry that has registered an increase in exports and employee number.
During the opening ceremony, Egrlic said BiH is recognized in Europe and the world as a country with huge resources and potentials for furniture production.
According to the BiH Foreign Trade Chamber, the country exported wood worth one billion convertible marks (578 million U.S. dollars) in the period between January and September 2018, a 6.9 percent increase year-on-year. Production and sales of wood assortment are also on the rise.
