By: Nevena Šarenac
The Agency for Foreign Investment Promotion in BiH (FIPA) and USAID organized in Sarajevo today a conference entitled “Foreign Investors and Justice Sector-Creating a Better Business Environment Through the Removal of Barriers in the Justice Sector”. The participants discussed the business environment in BiH and what is needed for urgent improvements and all for the goal of attracting foreign investment.
The Director of FIPA Jelica Grujić said that the goal of today’s conference is to draw attention to the necessity of adopting the legislation requirements of the economy, of local and foreign investors.
She warned that in BiH there are a number of laws and regulations that are not harmonized with one another, and there is a possibility that several institutions interpret them differently.
At today’s meting we want to have an open dialogue in order to accelerate the already launched process, but also to build new ideas that would be implemented in the future in order to create a better business environment for the overall benefit of the economy, for local and foreign investors’’, explained Jelica Grujić.
According to her, every year FIPA gathers information from the field, or from foreign investors that is sent to the Council of Ministers of BiH for consideration and further implementation.
It primarily comes to laws that are related to the establishment of companies, bankruptcy proceedings and operating procedures.
According to data from the World Bank, in BiH 37 days are necessary to establish companies, and more specifically there are 11 steps that need to be taken in order to create a company in BiH’’, said the Director of FIPA.
Speaking on the approximation of laws in BiH, she said that it is necessary to coordinate with the legislation that is imposed in EU integration, but also with legislation that is imposed in order to create a competitive business environment.
When it comes to foreign investment to BiH, she noted that data from the BiH Central Bank shows that it amounted to around 570 million KM for nine months last year.
“In BiH it is necessary to improve the economic situation and open new work places, and this is necessary for foreign investment’’, said that Deputy Head of the Mission of the US Embassy to BiH Nicholas M. Hil.
According to him, for foreign investment it is necessary to have proper infrastructure and rule of law in the country.
“In BiH it is necessary to change a lot, at the economic and political level. Of course, there is nothing more important that improving the economic situation and opening new work places’’, said Hill.
Consultant at the Center for the Development of Relations between BiH and Turkey (BIGMEV) Almir Mukača announced that this institution seeks to bring concrete investors to BiH, and to help BiH companies place their goods and services on the Turkish market.
Mukača thinks that the business environment in BiH needs to improve, and that successful models for improving the justice sector that are being applied in the region have to be adopted in BiH, and all for the goal of attracting necessary foreign investment.
He also pointed to the fact that the biggest problem in BiH for foreign investors are complicated procedures, and said that they have to be made more simplified and efficient, and that BiH institutions have to go out to meet investors.
“Turkish investments in BiH are still not sufficient and more has to be done on this. Currently, Turkey is in ninth place when it comes to investments in BiH, but there is huge potential to improve this, because BiH is the door of Europe’’, concluded Mukača.
The Chairman of the Board of the Factory “Standard” Edin Dacić and representative of the Swiss “Daccomet ad” thinks that in the long run it pays off to invest in BiH.
“We produce for IKEA”. Together with our partners, consumers of IKEA and local banks, we have invested more than five million euros until now. We are growing very quickly and we now have 408 employees. In the last 12 months we have created 120-130 new jobs’’, said Dacić.
