Ambassador of Sweden to Bosnia And Herzegovina (BiH) Anders Hagelberg held a meeting with journalists that was followed by a lunch. The meeting was held in the Swedish residency in BiH’s capital Sarajevo and the focus of the meeting were the relations between BiH and Sweden and projects carried out by the diplomatic mission and Swedish investors.
Hagelberg pointed out on Sweden’s government projects in BiH and its aim to contribute to citizens of BiH and to support the country on its path to EU. Emphasis is put on Rule of Law, gender equality and environment but the Swedish engagement can be found also in a lot of other sectors as agriculture, entrepreneurship, local administration, tax administration and the civil society.
“The amount of support this year is 35 million BAM and Sweden is committed to continue. However, to create results for the citizens of BiH and value for money for the Swedish taxpayers the political leadership in BiH has to show a strong commitment when it comes to rule of law, the reform agenda, EU-integration and, in the immediate perspective, the electoral reform.” Hagelberg explained.
Furthermore, Ambassador emphasized that the role of Sweden in BiH is based on a long tradition of close cooperation and that BiH diaspora plays a central role when it comes to Swedish investments in BiH.
“100.000 persons from BiH live in Sweden (most of them arrived during the 90’s) and contribute not only to the Swedish society, but also to BiH and to the relationship between the two countries,” Ambassador added.
When it comes to the Swedish assistance to BiH through SIDA project, Ambassador said that it has played and is playing an important role.
“Sweden has contributed to Bosnia and Herzegovina with 1 billion BAM since the mid 90’s and there are results all over the country from this engagement. Sweden is committed to continuing to give strong support to BiH.”
Swedish bilateral assistance in 2018 will amount to 35 million BAM. In addition to that, Sweden is also contributing with substantial amounts through regional and multilateral organizations.
Sweden has a broad agenda in its support to BiH, but there are some areas and aspects that Sweden puts extra emphasis on – Environment, Gender equality and Rule of Law. When it comes to the environment, Sweden is putting emphasis on air pollutions, energy efficiency, wastewater treatment and solid waste management.But there are also a lot of other areas covered by Swedish support, for example, agriculture, entrepreneurship, development of municipalities administration and services, Public sector reforms, Taxes, Land administration and many others.
Some of the current projects that Swedish government is executing in BiH include the “Air quality improvement Project” where Swedish Environment Protection Agency is collaborating with BiH Ministries and Authorities with the financial support amounting to 6 million BAM during 3 years. Moreover, some of the projects include the one regarding the “Energy efficiency in public buildings” in the amount of 8 million BAM during 6 years and Agriculture through Farma II Project in the amount of 12 million during 4 years.
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