Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Zlatko Lagumdžija opened the first Trade-Investment Forum of UK-BiH in London yesterday together with the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Sumon Chakrabarti. Lagumdžija participated in the forum as well.
Before the forum, Lagumdžija spoke with the President of EBRD on the activtieis of this bank with a particular focus on projects that the bank is realizing in BiH. They spoke about the forthcoming annual assembly of governors of EBRD in Istanbul as well as the development of new strategies for BiH.
They assessed that in the last years BiH was an example in the efficiency of investment and especially in the field of road construction.
In the next period they should continue the support in energy and infrastructure sector, but they also further directed support to small and medium-sized businesses and the private sector in its entirety.
The investment forum was held under the organization of the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Agency Developing Markets Associates (DMC) in cooperation with the British Ministry of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs that provided the space for the Forum at Lancaster House, which is a part of the royal palace.
At the forum, Minister Lagumdžija presented BiH as a country with good strategic and geographic position that offers a number of important opportunities for business, a country with a transitional economy with a liberal trade regime, a country open to foreign investment, a country that is becoming more attractive for foreign investment and trade and a with a professional and capable work force.
Lagumdžija recommended to British and other foreign investors at the Forum to invest in BiH in the energy, manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism and IT/telecommunications sector.
He urged investors to visit BiH in order to become more familiar of the economic potential of BiH.