Tomorrow at INTERA Technology Park in Mostar will open the conference “Connecto 2013 – Economic Cooperation with Diaspora.”
The conference aims to initiate and support the communication and cooperation among enterprisers and to unite their resources, knowledge and energy among domestic and international enterprisers in order to create business opportunities and to enable new working places.
The opening ceremony is planned at 10 am, and the welcome speeches will be held by the Mayor of Mostar, Ljubo Beslić, the President of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, Ahmet Egrlić, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ulrike Maria Knotz, the Ambassador of Sweden Bosse Hedberg, the Head of the office for Croatians abroad, Daria Krstičević and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Vjekoslav Bevanda.
BiH Diaspora is a little more than a third of the population living in BiH, or 1.400.000 people, of whom a large number is highly educated.
For example, in the USA according to the data of the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees there are about 19 percent of the members of the Diaspora, and according to data from the International Organization for Migration, the Diaspora every year sent to the country about two billion U.S. dollars through bank accounts. However, it is estimated that a large amount of money, around an additional of two billion U.S. dollars comes in BiH informally.
These data show that the Diaspora is willing to invest in the development of BiH, but it is necessary to look for new ways of financing, which would result in long-term cooperation.
It is necessary to provide an opportunity to open new markets, increasing the existing production capacities and through it, to create new jobs, and all the accompanying services.
The one year project starts with the organizing of the conference on 26th July 2013 at the conference room INTERA Technology Park in Mostar, during which it will be able to make the initial contacts between entrepreneurs in Diaspora and in the region.
The plan is to gather as many entrepreneurs from the Diaspora and the region, in order to achieve better results, and during the conference will be presented the potential entrepreneurs from Diaspora, entrepreneurs from the region, and the investment offers in the region. At the conference are expected about 300 participants.
The leader of the project CONNECTO is INTERA Technology Park Mostar, and partners are the Regional Development Agency – REDAH, “Naša Perspektiva” from Prijedor and the World Federation of BiH Diaspora.
(Source: Fena)
