The Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH Renzo Daviddi and the Ambassador of Germany to BiH Ulrike Maria Knotz visited Široki Brijeg today, where they met with the heads of the municipality and the West Herzegovina Canton.
After the meeting, the German Ambassador told journalists that today’s visit is a sign of European integration in BiH, and said that BiH has a European perspective.
“We support the process of EU integration and that process does not involve only Sarajevo, but all citizens of BiH. It is very important to know what are the interests and the problems at the local level”, said Ambassador Ulrike Maria Knotz.
She expressed hope that those responsible would bring the necessary decisions as soon as possible so that this country could move forward in this context and said how today’s meeting of the leaders of the four parties in Sarajevo would materialize in results.
The Prime Minister of the West Herzegovina Canton Zdenko Ćosić welcomed today’s visit of the EU Delegation to BiH and said that the perspective of one place cannot be obtained from a distance, but that there needs to be visits in order to see how people live and what problems they face.
During the visit they spoke of the situation in the Canton, of the relationship between the central authorities and of the specific relations towards the West Herzegovina Canton.
They also spoke of the projects on the importance of applying to IPA projects and there has been an aspect of lobbying for the projects.
It is a project about the expansion of infrastructure of the judiciary, of the project of the construction of business zones in Bijača and the system and measures of protection from fire.
Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH Renzo Daviddi said how the EU is not only a donor, but also a partner in the projects.
“If BiH manages to accelerate its ambitions and work that is necessary in order to become an EU member, then I think these types of projects in infrastructure could be financed not only in this canton but also in other cantons. The speed in which this country advances has to be bigger’’, said Daviddi. He also said that political obstacles that still exist have to be moved to the side.
He said that there are a number of positive effects in the last few months and that one of them is the acceleration of works on the border crossing Bijača.
“Things are now moving in the right direction, but there are still things that have to be resolved and we will see what that exactly means after 1 July 2013’’, said Daviddi.
The EU Delegation to BiH, after the meeting with Prime Minister Ćosić, held a meeting with the mayor of Široki Brijeg Miro Kraljević. Afterwards, they will participate in a roundtable discussion with representatives of local business communities.
There is also a planned visit to the construction site of wastewater that is co-financed by IPA funds.
