Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina Edin Forto, speaking about the Southern Interconnection project, stated today in Sarajevo that talks are underway regarding the final text of the interstate agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.
“This text must be agreed upon, possibly adopted by the Council of Ministers at a telephone session that could take place soon. After that, the document goes to the Presidency of BiH and after the Presidency, ratification in both houses of the state parliament is mandatory,” explained Forto.
He said that there is a desire to do this as soon as possible, and that it seems to him that there is a political consensus, which is rare, to do this as soon as possible.
“The issue of investing in this way, in terms of disagreement with the way the European Union does it, is an open question. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina has not joined the European Union, nor is it doing so at a certain speed in terms of imminent accession. If there is one thing I have talked about since I was appointed to the Council of Ministers, it is the terrible slowness of BiH to join the European Union, primarily due to the blockages that come from the politics of one of the coalitions participating at the state level, led by the SNSD,” said Forto.
According to him, although this model may not be ideal, the Southern Interconnection and that gas infrastructure are needed by Bosnia and Herzegovina. Diversification of energy sources is something that every country needs.
“We are currently dependent on only one source. If we introduce other sources, that infrastructure, regardless of the current political situation, regardless of political comments, locally or internationally, that infrastructure will last 50, 100 years and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to use it. No one can predict what will happen in five, 10, 15 years. We need that infrastructure. Unfortunately, we waited a long time for a political consensus to be reached and for an American investor to do it, because only then did everyone say ‘okay’. When a Bosnian-Herzegovinian company was supposed to do it, not everyone was in favor, there were possibilities of blockades,” said Forto.
He stated that the United States of America has its own interests.
“The interest of the United States of America in the Western Balkans is gas infrastructure, and in this new administration from the White House they have emphasized this very clearly to all of us who go to Washington and talk directly with the State Department. The European Union has its own priorities. If you look at the international context, the European Union and the United States of America have their own interests, which are not always the same. The task of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to overlap its interests with the interests of others and to achieve them together. The interest of BiH is this gas infrastructure. If we could not do it in another way, with the EU or independently, which would be ideal, then we can do it with someone else who has the same interest,” concluded Forto, Federalna writes.
