The joint project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Growth-Oriented Local Development Project (GOLD) has formalized today the cooperation with eleven local communities that gravitate towards Sarajevo. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by David Barth, the USAID Mission Director for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pelle Persson, Counselor at the Swedish Embassy/Sida in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and mayors of eleven partner municipalities Goražde, Ilidža, Istočna Ilidža, Istočno Novo Sarajevo, Novi Grad Sarajevo, Novo Sarajevo, Pale, Stari Grad, Visoko, Vogošća, and Zenica.
“Citizens expect the creation of new jobs and attracting new investments to be the first priority of their governments. It is necessary to continuously promote and provide adequate support to entrepreneurs and respond to the needs of the private sector for an adequate labor force and improvement of the business environment. The USAID, Swedish Embassy and German Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH will cooperate on the Business Friendly (BFC) program of certification of local communities in order to build their capacity to attract investments,” said David Barth, the USAID Mission Director for Bosnia and Herzegovina. All activities of the USAID Sida GOLD project will be focused on the creation of new jobs, attracting domestic and foreign investments, increase in exports and revenues by promoting a sustainable economic development model.
Pelle Persson, the Counselor at the Swedish Embassy/Sida in Bosnia and Herzegovina, underlined that ”a persistently high unemployment rate significantly impairs the possibility of economic recovery of local communities. Local communities must use their unique advantages in order to maintain and attract new investments. The cooperation with German GIZ will additionally contribute to the improvement of competitiveness of partner municipalities”. The project will cooperate with 48 local communities that will have at their disposal the same support and services.
Main goal of the USAID Sida Growth-Oriented Local Development (GOLD) Project is to support local governments with the economic development, attracting investment and creating new jobs. To achieve these goals the Project will engage citizens, public and private sectors, academia, NGOs, and the donor community. GOLD Project aims to develop sustainable local economic development model and partner municipalities will create a model of economic development that can be replicated throughout the country, laying the groundwork for sustained economic growth.
