Earlier this week, the Center for Transatlantic Relations within the Johns Hopkins University Washington and the US Embassy in Sarajevo gathered numerous individuals from the sectors of economy, politics and science in order to show that they do not want to let BiH out of sight nor they will allow another halt in the reform process, the Austrian Standard reported.
A part of the conference, which was opened in Sarajevo, was held yesterday at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. According to High Representative for BiH Valentin Inzko, aim of the conference is to draw attention to BiH.
One of the most influential Austrian newspapers reports that BiH is lucky, because in the context of this conference it is not being mentioned as a country in crisis. On the contrary, BiH is followed by titles with positive connotations. With the desire for this to continue, Director of the Mims Group Mujo Selimović said that many things do not look good from distance, but when you get closer you realize that the situation is much better than it seems. However, this does not mean that some things should not change, especially when it comes to business environment, Standard reported.
The focus is on long-awaited reforms. After the British-German initiative was launched in 2014, first step was the adoption of the Labor Law, but under great pressure from the EU. Following this, the Stabilization and Association Agreement became effective.
“Now we are working on improving conditions for the business community,” said the Prime Minister of FBiH Fadil Novalić.
Other items in the agenda are: reduction of costs of authorities across all levels, budget discipline, health reform, privatization of state enterprises, more fair distribution of social reimbursements, simplification of bureaucracy for investors, and legal safety.
What is still missing is the coordination mechanism between the entities so that it could be jointly worked on the path towards the EU. Without the mechanism, the state cannot use the pre-accession support amounting to around 850 million EUR.
Saša Toperić from SAIS said that only cooperation between governments of FBiH and RS can lead to the improvement of situation. Recently implemented reforms led to an increase in income amounting to 3.8 percent and the debt decreased by 1.4 percent. “However, conclusion of the agreement with IMF will be the main step towards the improvement of investment climate,” Toperić said for Standard.
(Source: akta.ba/photo avaz.ba )
