The Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Zlatko Zlatko Lagumdžija received yesterday in Sarajevo the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany from the region.
Minister Lagumdžija spoke with the Ambassador of Germany to BiH Ulrike Maria Knotz, Heinz Georg Wilhelm (Serbia), Pius Fischer (Montenegro), Peter-Christof Blomeyer (Kosovo), Gudrun Elisabeth Steinacker (Macedonia), Caor Müller-Holtkemper (Albania), and the Director for the Western Balkans and Tureky in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany Ambassador Graf von Lambsdorff.
The reception with Lagumdžija was organized on the occasion of the conference of the Ambassadors of Germany for the Western Balkans that was primarily focused on regional cooperation.
During the meeting, Lagumdžija said that BiH is achieving its foreign policy duties and regional cooperation, and has a proactive approach to regional initiatives and continues to make a maximum contribution with other countries from the region in order to create a Western Balkan and South East Europe region that serves as a space where geographical, economic and socio-cultural differences are used for potential development.
He said that regional cooperation is a key factor for the integration of the Western Balkans in the EU and said that our country attaches great importance to bilateral relations with its neighbors.
He underlined that BiH, with all other countries in the region has excellent cooperation in the area of EU integration and is working on concluding agreements on cooperation in the context of accession to the EU under article 15 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with every country in the region.
These agreements will serve as creating interconnection and cooperation with relevant institutions that deal with EU integration, including staff training and information about the process, as well as a complementary approach in seeking bilateral assistance and applying for available EU funds and exchange of information in terms of harmonization of legislation with the EU aquis.
Lagumdžija said that BiH is simultaneously a Balkans, Mediterranean and Central European country, and it is in BiH’s interest for its actions to contribute to the de-stigmatization of the Western Balkans and to form general conceptions of the ‘wealth of small differences’ in order to attract partners at a global level and to materialize them for the benefit of the region.
He said that in this context the support of Germany is significant, as a member of the EU and a country that is in a cultural-geographical sense a Central European country, and not only at a bilateral level but also in processes of regional initiatives.
During the meeting they exchanged opinions on bilateral relations between BiH and Germany and general cooperation of countries in the region.
