The Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vojin Mitrovic, at the invitation of the Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia Oleg Butkovic, paid a working visit to the Republic of Croatia on Tuesdat.
Ministers Mitrovic and Butkovic signed the Agreement on Maintenance and Reconstruction of Road Bridges on the State Border, between the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
”We are aware that without the development of infrastructure, there is no development of the region and that for BiH and all people living in this area, any kind of connection with the countries of the region is good. The agreement we signed today allows us to start maintaining interstate bridges, for which 200,000 BAM are planned annually for the ongoing maintenance of bridges with Croatia, while funds for emergency maintenance and reconstruction are provided from the BiH Budget and BiH’s international obligations. as a special purpose program of the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH in the amount of about two million BAM for the next five years,” said Minister Mitrovic.
He added that by building bridges with neighboring countries, the highway network in BiH will be connected to the European transport network, “which will enable our citizens a shorter, faster, more comfortable and easier trip to European countries.”
As Minister Butkovic emphasized, today’s signing of the Agreement marks another step towards stronger traffic, but also economic connections between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to him, the maintenance and reconstruction of bridges and roads on the common border is equally important for both countries, “because only through cooperation can we improve common ties, both traffic and economic.”
Certain bridges, which are, among others, the subject of the Agreement signed today, are in a really bad condition and we must react quickly in order to bring them to a safe condition from the traffic aspect as soon as possible.
Bridges, in addition to connecting the two countries, ultimately connect the inhabitants, and that is the goal of any such interstate cooperation, said Minister Butkovic.
Delegations of the two ministries also held a bilateral meeting to discuss the improvement of bilateral relations and regional cooperation, with a special focus on the construction of the Bosanska Gradiska and Brcko-Gunja bridges, the commissioning of the Svilaj bridge and defining the Adriatic-Ionian highway route.
