The Head of the Economic Section of the German Embassy to BiH Florian Burkhardt and the Head of the Coordination Department for Project Development of the non-profit organization “Help” Timo Stegelmann opened yesterday in Mostar the two-day fair for micro, small and medium businesses called “Working together, we create the future’’.
The fair is organized as part of the project “Poverty reduction through support of local economic development and economic empowerment in Central BiH”, financed by the government of Germany and is implemented by the non-profit organization “Help Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe” with headquarters in Bonn.
The purpose of the fair is to give support to small and medium businesses and to promote the economic and tourist potential of BiH.
At the fair, around 20 exhibitors presented various products by individual farmers, handicrafts and tourism service providers.
According to Burkhardt, “Help” in BiH has been operating since 1994 when it dealt more with humanitarian works and lending support, while in the last period it has been focused on projects that help in delivering profits.
Until now, “Help” assisted around 1.170 clients, and their success rate is around 90 percent, which means that firms that receive help from “Help” earn revenue and profit and pay their taxes regularly, said Stegelmann. He announced new projects in BiH that would be financed by the German government as well as BiH municipalities.
“Help always supports the local population and within specific projects supports their specific business ideas in order for them to be developed and placed on the market’’, he said.
He added that in Germany 70-80 percent of the total taxes paid to the government are from small and medium businesses that are important for the state.
“I sincerely hope that politicians in BiH would realize this fact’’, said the Head of the Coordination Department for project development at “Help”. He stressed that the project was financed by the German government in the amount of 500.000 euros, and co-financed by municipalities that were included in the project.
The fair was organized in cooperation with the Chamber of Crafts of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.
(Source: ekapija.com)
