The BiH Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šarović and the Prime Minister of the RS Šarović assessed yesterday in Banja Luka that they have to work jointly on protecting domestic production within the jurisdiction of the entities and the state.
BiH, due to the fact that from 1 July will be a border country with the EU, has to resolve key issues, such as the existence of adequate border crossings with inspection infrastructure and laboratory capacity, so that domestic products of plant and animal origin could be freely exported.
“The BiH Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations will soon have an obligation to propose to the BIH Parliament selected measures in the area of protecting domestic production and that would be an opportunity for the RS to embed these protective measures so that it functions at both entities’’, said Šarović.
At a conference for journalists, after the meeting with the RS Prime Minister he said that after Croatia becomes an EU member state on 1 July, the position of BiH is a common one and confirmed by a joint agreement with RS representatives and will remain unchanged so as to not go further into trade liberalization, which is in the interest of business people from the RS.
Cvijanović stressed that the priority is by 1 July to have all preparations finished, and that due to time they have to work jointly on these issues in the interest of the economy and agricultural production.
They spoke of improving certain legal solutions, what BiH provides to the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the EU, the CEFTA agreement, as well as negotiations with the World Trade Organization, and also how BiH ensures the protection of its agricultural production without violating these agreements.
Cvijanović confirmed that they spoke of tariffs, and it was agreed that they will continue cooperation with the relevant entity Ministries and committees in order to reach the best solution.
At the meeting they spoke of the amendments to the Law on Transmission and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and Plants (CITES), which was a hindrance to hunting associations in the entities.
