The Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Bisera Turkovic, discussed several current topics today in Sarajevo with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Toshimitsu Motegi, who is visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, after which two agreements were signed.
The agreement on the exchange of notes between the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Government of Japan on a grant in the amount of five hundred million Japanese yen was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Bisera Turkovic and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Toshimitsu Motegi.
The Ambassador of Japan to BiH Makoto Ito and the Director of the International Fund for Strengthening Human Security (ITF) Tomaz Lovrencic signed an Agreement between the Embassy of Japan in BiH and the ITF on grants for the Demining Support Project in Bihac, Donji Vakuf, Doboj and Foca.
At the press conference after the meeting, Minister Turkovic said that Japan is a proven friend of BiH and its citizens, which has been reaffirmed through 25 years of diplomatic relations.
She stated that she discussed with her colleague from Japan the three most important issues – the fight against the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the progress of BiH and the deepening of economic cooperation between the two countries.
She pointed out the selfless help of the Government of Japan, which set aside 500 million yen, which is close to eight million BAM of non-refundable aid to BiH.
She announced that the funds will be invested in strengthening the capacity for the fight against illegal migration. She assessed that it will be a strong contribution to strengthening the state and institutions that have been facing this problem for a long time. Implementation of the agreement signed today will begin soon.
Minister Turkovic stated that the assistance would be directed to the purchase of vehicles to the BiH Border Police, the Service for Foreigners Affairs of BiH, the RS Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Interior of the Una-Sana Canton.
Assistance for demining projects is also extremely important, for which we are grateful – stated Turkovic.
She says that they mostly talked about the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, especially the problems in the delivery of vaccines.
She noted that Minister Motegi had recently attended a summit on the situation in the COVAX mechanism, BHRT writes.
As for the political situation, she said that Japan, as a member of the Peace Implementation Council, very clearly supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of BiH, and rejected any attempts to violate the Dayton Peace Agreement.
”We have confirmed our commitment to reforms on the path to EU and NATO membership, despite sometimes very negative rhetoric,” said Turkovic.
Also, the focus was on the development of infrastructure projects and economic growth. Turkovic assessed that BiH has a chance to emerge from this crisis stronger and economically better positioned.
The pandemic has shown that physical distance does not have to be an obstacle to the growth of economic and trade cooperation. ”We have committed ourselves to form a broad and meaningful framework for strengthening economic cooperation in areas of mutual interest in the near future,” announced Turkovic.
She sees great potential for cooperation in the sectors of tourism, sports, culture, energy, information and communication technologies, wood, metal and textile industries.
