The BiH cities of Sanski Most and Prijedor met the criteria for acquiring international certification (BFC SEE) in accordance with regional standards, and will be officially presented with them on 12 June at the closing ceremony of the Regional Congress in Zagreb.
This is an international certificate of favorable business environment in municipalities or cities in Southeast Europe, which creates favorable conditions for potential foreign and domestic investors.
In addition to these two cities, Banja Luka and Ljubuški were also included in the project of certification.
The requirements for international certification were met in Croatia by Bjelovar and Ivanec, Strumica and Veles in Macedonia, and in Serbia the confirmation of the quality of work were applied by Stara Pazova, Ruma, Pirot, Bujanova and Inđija.
Municipalities have to meet 12 criteria under which 80 sub-criteria that evaluate the extent and whether a local government has created a favorable business environment, and concerns local economic development, infrastructure and communal services, transport tax policies, credit and communication.
Associations assist municipalities or cities in this process, or federations of municipalities and chambers of commerce through lobbying and advocacy of the state and potential investors.
The German government through the German Agency finances the project BFC SEE for Regional Development (GIZ).
The project includes partners from three more countries of Southeast Europe: Ministry for Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation of the RS, Federal Ministry for Development, Entrepreneurship and Trade (BiH), Association of Local Governments (ZELS) and the Federation of Chambers of Macedonia and the Economics Faculty in Rijeka (Croatia).
