Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) Mirsad Jasarspahic said that it is expected that 2023 will bring a kind of decrease in terms of market turbulence.
”The first half of the year will be marked by the continuation of negative trends and the recession that is here. In the second half of the year, a certain stabilization and a period of better business can be expected. Every crisis should be seen as a challenge and an opportunity. We are sure that our businessmen will continue with a series of successful operations. At the same time, we should all work on better visibility of positive and successful BiH business stories, which would further encourage the main actors of global supply chains in the industry to do business with our companies, which would also be a signal for more serious investment ventures in BiH,” noted Jasarspahic.
New technologies
Speaking about the activities that marked the work of the FBiH Chamber of Commerce in 2022, Jasarspahic mentioned the USAID WHAM project “Development of the metal and textile sector through specialized training of the workforce” which aims to professionally train and/or requalify the workforce in the mentioned sectors with special with a focus on the unemployed, especially young people and women with the potential of their employment after completing the project and meeting the vocational training criteria.
”Activities within the project related to the metal sector were implemented in the Una-Sana Canton (USC), and activities related to the textile sector in the Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDC). These activities were implemented by the Chamber in cooperation with the USC Chamber of Commerce and the ZDCChamber of Commerce and with the aim of further strengthening the chamber network,” pointed out Jasarspahic.
As he added, the Chamber has achieved cooperation with all leading international organizations and/or specific activities (USAID, UNDP, IFC, GIZ, EBRD, UN WOMEN, IFC and others). Through the European Union (EU) project, IPA II DEU, which the Chamber is implementing in BiH through GIZ, UNDP and ILO, a project of great importance for the business community is being implemented, tentatively intended to overcome the consequences of covid, under the initial name HELPDESK, but it was reformulated to BIZHUB because it is of a long-term nature and consists of several comprehensive modules (e-finance, e-consulting, b2b, e-webinars ….).
Joint plan
The goal of the BLUEAIR project (full name Blue Growth Smart Adriatic Ionian S3), as Jasarspahic added, is to strengthen the institutional capacities of the territories of ADRION (Adriatic-Ionian area) in the definition of the common policy of smart specializations (S3) in blue growth and guaranteeing the alignment of local initiatives with the EUSAIR strategy (EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region) through the development of a macro-regional strategy of smart specialization (S3) of blue growth and the establishment of a dedicated innovation community.
”The Chamber of FBiH acted on the strategic determinations of BiH and the obligations assumed according to the listed EU directives, the Green Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Sofia Declaration, which especially concerns the reduction of pollution emissions from transport through the activities of the Association for Electromobility. The FBiH Chamber of Commerce actively worked on the promotion of electromobility, proposals for amendments to the legal regulations, where the final result was the abolition of customs duties on the import of electric vehicles, a call for subsidies at the federal level, promotions throughout BiH, but also in the region (Slovenia, Croatia) ). The FBiH Chamber will be the first institution to create an official map of BiH filling stations, which is of crucial importance for all drivers of electric vehicles and tourists,” Jasarspahic added.
With the joint implementation plan of the program to improve and increase the attractiveness of FBiH as a recognizable tourist destination, the Chamber of Commerce of FBiH and USAID’s sustainable tourism development project in BiH have established the basis for ongoing and further dialogue and cooperation between participants in the tourism sector.
