A little less than 48 hours was enough for the transporters to somehow force the authorities to work in sync. A series of meetings resulted in agreements that led to the lifting of the blockade, the resolution of strategic issues related to regulations and agreements, but, unfortunately, also to the damage that had already been done. The participants in the story are still working today, and they say that there is still a lot of work ahead of them.
The damage caused by the blockade of BiH roads is enormous. The exact data will be known after the calculation of traffic registered through fiscal devices during the suspension period, but it is estimated that it is in the millions. The first losses that farmers are adding up suggest this.
“I know of a few cases of lactofreezes where three hundred liters of milk were spilled. A good part of the gherkins that were supposed to be exported were damaged and large penalties are being paid there, and it was not possible to reach the border, there is mostly damage, and good damage,” explained Nedžad Bićo, president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Farmers’ Association.
And 24 hours were needed for the authorities at all levels in BiH to understand that the transport industry is the lifeblood of the economy, says Velibor Peulić, the main coordinator of the BiH Logistics Consortium, and that the issue of working hours of the inspectorates at border crossings will be resolved tomorrow, which is of strategic importance.
“If the border crossing is open from 8 am to 8 pm, so will the inspection. Until now, if it is a holiday and the market inspector is absent, we sit and wait at the border for four days because the inspector has a public holiday, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday came. This is primarily a cost that must be invoiced to our manufacturer, whether it was an importer or an exporter,” Peulić points out.
Our transporters will soon face new EU regulations, but the priority is to resolve the issue of the Schengen visa regime, said BiH Minister of Communications and Transport Edin Forto, who met with members of the EU delegation and pointed out to them the importance of accelerating the establishment of laws and regulations.
“We will hardly change the Schengen regime in this political climate, but certain reliefs for carriers can be achieved and after we signed a statement at the regional summit, all the transport ministers from the region that we want this to be addressed with Brussels, I can say that we are a leader in this field and not that I will continue this but that I will try to alleviate what carriers from the region are facing with Minister Konaković,” said Forto.
In addition to the problems that BiH carriers are facing at the borders, they are also faced with internal, slow and laborious bureaucratic procedures. We will solve this – it was promised after meetings with the entity governments.
“What is it up to the RS Government that we can do with bylaws, that we will have to give some consents. Today I am familiar with it, these are initiatives that will go to the level of BiH, so I can say that the RS Government provides support and we will service all the obligations that we talked about today and that you could hear,” said Savo Minić, the newly elected Prime Minister of RS at the proposal of Milorad Dodik.
“I expect that the ministers in the Council of Ministers will deal with these affairs and tasks that are theirs and I am glad that they all got involved, and we will continue this cooperation in this area and in solving the problem,” stressed Nermin Nikšić, Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The first to make a move tomorrow is the Minister of Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Staša Košarac, who will have a series of coordination meetings, followed by his colleague Srđan Amidžić, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH. Solving the problem would mean that political opportunities are used for the same interest – the interest of a strong domestic economy; this means secure work for almost 50,000 carriers, and access to new markets, Federalna writes.
