Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Denis Zvizdic, who is paying an official visit to Montenegro at the invitation of the Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, said that the focus of today’s conversations will be economic cooperation and economic issues, and achieving more meaningful and better economic cooperation.
“We want to improve our economic relations in content,” said Zvizdic and recalled that trade between Montenegro and BiH at the moment amounts to 330 million BAM.
However, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH is confident that with the achievement of certain agreements or amendments to certain solutions that will enable farmers of both countries to better collaborate, this level of trade in the upcoming years will increase to around 450 to 500 million BAM.
Besides economic issues that will be in focus of conversations, he says, the aim of the visit of the delegation of the Council of Ministers of BiH to the first BH neighboring country is to strengthen regional cooperation, based on understanding and respect for the basic postulates of statehood of BiH and Montenegro.
“It is important to have a direct dialogue and to move towards calming tensions that can arise in the entire region of the Western Balkans,” said Zvizdic, who considers direct conversation as far more effective way of negotiation and problem solving, than showed by the practice established in the last few months, the exchange of messages between officials of different countries.
Zvizdic is convinced that direct conversations, based on respect, just the way it was during the recent visit to Belgrade and the upcoming visit to Montenegro, can certainly lead to high-quality solutions and to create an environment in which potential of both other countries can be presented, as well as the potential of the entire Western Balkans.
He reiterated that this region has a very respectable natural and human resources, which should be placed in the function of economic development, or what needs to increase the standard of living of the citizens of all Western Balkan countries.
During today’s meeting he announced the signing of an agreement on cooperation of the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Government of Montenegro in the EU accession process, in which certain expert teams for the European agenda in which is BiH, will be available to the Directorate for European Integration, ministries and all institutions of BiH.
“Ultimately, we will achieve cooperation on the issue of European and NATO integrations, considering the fact that Montenegro is several steps ahead of BiH,” added Zvizdic.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH states that there are no serious outstanding issues in bilateral relations between BiH and Montenegro.
“Such a question was here last year, but after the conclusion of the agreement on the borders between BiH and Montenegro, there is no serious issue in relations between the two countries,” he explained.
What is important, he said, is the willingness of both BiH and Montenegro to work together within a number of institutions, bilateral, trilateral or multilateral that are organized regarding the numerous and important infrastructure projects such as the Adriatic-Ionian route, the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline…
He summarized that there is a whole range of important issues, such as cooperation in the field of tourism and economy, as well as cooperation in facilitating customs and other barriers to trade between BiH and Montenegro…
Bearing in mind the above questions, it is planned, said Zvizdic, that to make many meaningful, higher quality and more effective relations between the two countries in the next few years, because Montenegro is the first neighbor of BiH.
“The concept of neighbors in the Balkans is something that was always appreciated, and on which we should pay special attention,” said Chairman Zvizdic.
At the end, he concluded that BiH and Montenegro, given the rather difficult past of the Western Balkans, have shown that all the problems can be overcome and that good cooperation can be achieved between the two countries for the mutual benefit of their citizens.
During his stay in Podgorica, Chairman Zvizdic will, besides the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dusko Markovic, also meet with the President of the Parliament Ivan Brajovic and President of Montenegro, Filip Vujanovic.
(Source: klix.ba)
