The second edition of this year’s 9th Economic Forum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was held yesterday in Sarajevo. The topics of the Forum, which brought together numerous experts, were focused on the growth and development plan on the way to the European Union (EU) with the implementation of the Pact for the Future, which is based on the principles of sustainable development, inclusiveness and regional cooperation. Two panels were held within the Forum: “Growth plan – human capacities and institutional perspective” and “Financing sustainable development – after the Future Summit and COP 29”. Zlatko Lagumdzija, Ambassador of BiH to the United Nations (UN), who was a guest on one TV show, was among the opening speakers.
“We managed to gather a large number of people who directly in their countries in the Western Balkans, above all in Albania, in North Macedonia, in Montenegro, and who are involved in the specific implementation of the Growth Plan in their countries, as part of an overall Western European and ultimately to the European project,” said Zlatko Lagumdzija, ambassador of BiHto the UN.
He stated that in March of this year, the first part of the Forum was held, where they discussed what was initiated at the Forum in 2020 with Jeffrey Sachs, the man who designed the sustainable development goals.
“At that time, we mobilized him and a number of people to lobby for, in addition to the European perspective, to choose several areas in which we tried to achieve concrete results, namely, above all, the creation of a single economic space, the creation of a health union in the Western Balkans, digital transformation, green transformation and, finally, cooperation in the field of education,” said Lagumdzija.
The Berlin process, Lagumdzija emphasized, just opened the way to that.
“On its tenth anniversary, the Berlin process again opened up a chance for us to move towards the integration of the Western Balkans, but with the help of the EU, which will pump in concrete funds, concrete reform plans, and then, integrating among ourselves, integrate into the EU,” said Lagumdzija.
He emphasized that our country did not make enough use of anything offered by the Berlin Process, and that it is high time that we “come to our senses” and turn to issues that contribute to the future of people in BiH.
“Otherwise, we are all heading towards a black hole together, no one will be a winner, everyone will be a loser, and that is why it is very important that the Berlin process offers us three segments – that we cooperate in the region, that each country implement reforms individually and thirdly that with specific projects, we first come to the region and look for partners there, as well and then partners in the EU,” said Lagumdzija.
According to him, the EU is slowly losing patience with us.
He also believes that standing still is not the status quo but the opening of new instabilities and insecurities.
“They will of course deal with us, and the success of their dealing with us depends on how much we deal with ourselves and work for our own benefit,” Lagumdzija said.
