Chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH’s) Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic will meet on January 8th with the delegation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
In Sarajevo, Zvizdic will meet with the high delegation headed by EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti.
The meeting will be attended by Finance and Treasury Minister and Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda and Mirko Sarovic, was announced from BiH Council of Ministers’ press service.
Currently, EBRD is concentrated on the restructuring and expansion of the local private sector. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a strong industrial heritage, an abundant supply of energy, and significant resources to support processing industries. The EBRD will target local and foreign companies for investments in the country and provide financing for restructuring and expansion of smaller local companies. We will provide SME credit lines through local banks, microfinance loans and non-financial support.
Also, on forging closer linkages with wider regional markets because a small open economy such as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s can reach its full economic potential only by integrating closely with wider regional markets. Regional integration, both physical and commercial, will become even more important in the new strategy period as Bosnia and Herzegovina now has a border with the EU as of 1 July 2013, following Croatia’s accession to the EU. The EBRD will support private investments, increased trade flows and infrastructure improvements deepening regional integration. We will encourage greater private sector involvement in public infrastructure upgrades and put a strong emphasis on improvements of standards towards EU norms.
The third pillar on which the EBRD is concentrated in BiH is promoting a more efficient and sustainable use of resources. Public entities and private companies make very inefficient use of existing resources, resulting in unnecessarily high energy costs and significant environmental damage. To support more efficient and sustainable use of resources, the Bank will focus on sustainable energy investments with high demonstration effects. The Bank will provide direct financing for energy and resource efficiency improvements for large corporate clients, both in the private and public sectors, and for the restructuring and commercialisation of municipal utility companies. The Bank will continue an active policy dialogue on sustainable use of resources, using technical assistance, in close cooperation with other donors.
