Tegeltija-Kurz: BiH and Austria have Good Relations without open Issues

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Zoran Tegeltija, stated yesterday in Vienna that Austria is one of the few countries with which BiH has a surplus, which is increasing every year.

After a bilateral meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Tegeltija told reporters that BiH and Austria have good relations without open issues and that economic cooperation is at a good level, but that it can be further improved.

Tegeltija said that the fight against the corona virus was also discussed at the meeting, emphasizing that BiH and the countries of the Western Balkans will receive a significant amount of vaccines from Austria through the purchase system in August, which will enable citizens to be offered enough vaccines before autumn.

"We will continue to negotiate the purchase of vaccines with other countries, but this amount of about 300,000 from Austria will be a great incentive for us," Tegeltija emphasized.

He added that he exchanged views with the Austrian Chancellor on the migrant crisis, emphasizing that BiH is suffering from excessive migration pressure, considering the number of inhabitants and the area.

According to him, it is not a good attempt to stop migrants on the border between BiH and Croatia, and on the other hand to enable them to move freely from entering the EU and some of its countries all the way to BiH.

"That is why we are asking for the border of defense against migrants to be moved. BiH is ready to be a part of the story, that is, to try to stop migrants on the border of BiH with Serbia and Montenegro," he said, adding that EU technical support would be needed as it is provided to some other Western Balkan countries, such as Macedonia and Albania.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers emphasized that the enlargement of the EU was also discussed and that Austria is a friend of all the countries of the Western Balkans, especially BiH in its efforts to take the first necessary step in the process of joining the EU.

He emphasized that the Austrian Chancellor promised to be the ambassador of BiH and that he would try to convince all those countries that are skeptical about EU enlargement that there is no Europe without all the countries of the Western Balkans in the Union, Srna news agency writes.