The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina today, on the proposal of the Minister of Communications and Transport of BiH Edin Forto, made new decisions and changes to earlier decisions on the distribution of funds of the Regulatory Agency for Communications of BiH (RAK), which provided an additional six million BAM for BHRT, two million KM each to the entity governments for the development of electronic media and strengthening media pluralism, and 1.7 million BAM for RAK to strengthen regulatory capacities.
Forto stated that today’s decisions confirm that RAK funds are no longer money sitting in the account, but a driving force behind the development and strengthening of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Before this mandate, a significant part of these funds remained undistributed for years. Today we are talking about a record 82 million BAM invested in concrete projects throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the first time, as much as 35 percent of the total allocated funds were directed to BiH institutions – more than ever before. This shows that public money can be used to strengthen the state and projects that bring real benefits to citizens,” said Forto.
He reminded that thanks to the decisions made in this mandate, the funds were for the first time in such a volume directed to state institutions, among which are the IDDEEA, the Border Police of BiH, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of BiH, the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH, the Public Railway Corporation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Regulatory Agency for Communications of BiH. The funds were used to finance projects of digital transformation, development of broadband infrastructure, improvement of border security, modernization of transport, development of railway infrastructure, digitization of public administration and strengthening of regulatory capacities.
Speaking about today’s decision granting BHRT an additional six million BAM, Forto emphasized that this is the largest financial support to the public RTV service in its history through RAK funds.
“Two years ago, we secured a record four million BAM for BHRT. Today, we raise that record to a new level and provide an additional six million BAM, which brings the total support to BHRT in this term to a historic 10 million BAM. A stable public service is not a matter of one institution, but the interest of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that is why we decided to make a step forward that has not been made so far,” emphasized Forto, as announced by the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
