The “Connecto 2024” conference, a business event that brings together more than 260 business people from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the diaspora from 29 countries in the region, Europe and the world with the aim of strengthening the economy and attracting investors who will invest in the home country, began today in Mostar.
“Our goal, like every year, is to gather members of the diaspora and local entrepreneurs to communicate with each other and find new ways to establish business relationships. In BiH, the departure of young people is a big problem, but also the departure of people in general. Those people who have become diaspora often are successful in the countries they went to, and our goal is for them to recognize that it pays to invest in BiH and cooperate with local companies, and that in this way they can earn additional earnings, as well as potentially realize existing investments or open new companies.” , said the director of INTER Technology Park (TP), Vedran Šimunović.
He pointed to the former fundamental problem of the lack of work, and today the lack of people who will do the work.
“INTERA TP was created in 2011, and in 2013 was the first Connecto conference. Back then, the fundamental problem was the lack of work, and today the fundamental problem is the lack of people who will do the work, and that had a big impact precisely on the diaspora. Now we have to attract people from the diaspora to come back to BiH and work from here. However, in order to attract them, they must have the same conditions as abroad in terms of wages, and thus get realistically better living conditions,” said Šimunović.
He stated that, according to estimates, about 600 thousand people left Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last ten years.
“When you look at the calculation of education and how much it costs, it is a direct loss of 131 billion marks that we have lost in the last ten years. Maybe it is not measured that way, and maybe it should be. On the other hand, according to some estimates in relation to the GDP, when one person leaves, it costs the state and all of us approximately 100,000 per year. So, we lose a huge amount of capital just through the departure of people. The only solution here is to create such good conditions, and we can do it because we have all the potential for people to start return and work on the global market from Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Šimunović.
The owner of Ruff Cycles, Petar Desnica, said that he found a well-educated and motivated team in BiH.
“By the way, I’m from Zadar, I live in Germany, and all our factories and operations are in BiH. I feel only positive things in BiH. I’m a co-owner of the family GS group that has a factory in Travnik, and we’re not disappointed, but we’re doing well here. We have excellent We are growing, and we currently have about 750 employees in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year two new factories are opening, one in Prozor-Rama and the other in Novi Travnik, so I think that life is better here than in Germany those who want to go there will not find their happiness, they will work from morning to night, they will always be seen as foreigners and I think they will return in a couple of years and they will be fine,” Desnica said.
BiH Minister of Communications and Transport Edin Forto emphasized that one of the greatest potentials that Bosnia and Herzegovina currently possesses is abroad.
“I like to call them our people who live outside. The very concept that we see here in the technology park is very important, where scientific and research institutions, universities, and the private sector meet, which is very important for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been proven that every brand invested in scientific -research work returns fourfold through economic activity. That is why, as someone who comes from the state sector, I constantly advocate that the state invests in such projects precisely because of this investment ratio. It is never a kind of support, but always an investment in economic activity “, assessed Minister Forto, Fena news agency writes.
