“The European Union plans to invest EUR 1 billion over the next five years in developing and interconnecting transport and energy infrastructure in the Western Balkans region, leading to further integration with member states of the European Union,“ said EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Charge d’affaires, Dr Renzo Daviddi, in a meeting with BiH Minister of Communication and Transport, Mr Slavko Matanovic, RS Minister of Transport and Communication, Mr Nedjo Trninic, and representatives of the BiH Council of Ministers, the BiH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, FBiH Ministry of Transport and Communication and the FBiH Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry.
In the meeting held in EU House in Sarajevo, Daviddi recalled that over the past years the EU has given increasing importance to connecting citizens and businesses across Europe in order to promote sustainable economic growth. He added that the Western Balkans Summit, held in August 2014 in Berlin, extended this drive to improve connectivity to include the countries of the Western Balkans.
As announced by Commissioner Hahn in Pristina on 25 March 2015, as a first step more than 100 million euro in IPA II funds will be available for all countries, together with loan-financing from European financial institutions. In order to be able to use these funds, the countries of the region need to agree on the Core Network of transport infrastructures for the region. A principled agreement was reached at the Pristina ministerial meeting, and it is to be formally confirmed by Prime Ministers of the region on 21 April in Brussels. The next step will be to agree on the specific investment priorities in the areas of both transport and energy.
Each country, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, will need to carefully select priorities and to explore all possible sources of funding. In this context, a functional State-level Investment Committee will need to be formed to bring together all relevant ministries and financial partners. The Investment Committee will need to establish ‘single sector pipelines’, i.e. a comprehensive planning and funding mechanism, comprising the most relevant investment projects to be financed in the country. Credible sector strategies and ‘single sector pipelines’ as well as a regulatory framework compatible with EU requirements are essential and as such, will be pre-conditions for getting access to EU funding.
“This is a real chance for BiH to significantly advance its transport and energy sectors. The substantial assistance from the EU needs to be accompanied by robustly prioritised efforts in BiH which could lead to boosting overall competitiveness, economic growth, job creation and a real improvement of BiH citizens’ lives. As such, the Connectivity Agenda is fully complementary to the Compact for Growth and Jobs, which authorities have committed to implement,” Dr Daviddi said, concluding: “It is now for BiH to rapidly fulfil the requirements that grant access to the EU funds.”
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