Bevanda – Ashton: Economy as Key for Progress



Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Vjekoslav Bevanda, together with Entity Prime Ministers Željka Cvijanović and Nermin Nikšić, met in Sarejevo with High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton.

Chairman Bevanda thanked the EC Vice-president for visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and expressed is hope that the visit would result in creation of conditions for issue-solving in the state.

EC Vice-President Ashton conveyed, on behalf of 28 members, a will and commitment of the European Union to the future of BIH.

During the meeting, they discussed the current political situation in BIH in the light of recent protests, and ways to arrive at a solution.

Chairman Bevanda said that it is a fact that BIH is in a difficult economic and asocial position, but that the worrying fact are the protests that took place at time marked by momentum for work and coordination. He stressed that the last year ended by optimistic statisticsm, supposed to be a foundation of the up-ward development trends in the state, saying that the GDP growth was 1.4 per cent, industrial production grew by 6 per cent, exports increased by 56.2 per cent and inflation rate was 0.8 per cent. He underlined IMF and World Bank projections of this’s year GDP at 2.8 per cent. Chairman Bevanda said that BIH managed to stabilise its financial sector. He added that BIH faces a high unemployment rate, especially affecting young and educated persons, emphasising that it is necessary to combat grey economy which takes large sums of money away, which should be found in the real institutional streams.

Chairman Bevanda said that the system institutions appeared not to function and that it is a worrying fact, stressing it compromises already existing or intended foreign investment activities. He underlined the importance of improvement of communication with civil society in BIH, saying that the NGO sector should be a high quality correction factor for authorities, independent from any political option.

Vice-President Ashton and Chairamnn Bevamnda discussed the economy and economic growth in BIH, and ways for BIH and the European Union to work together on further increase of growth and job creation. Chairman Bevnada informed the meeting of the importance of regional cooperation, being incited and supported from year 2012. In that regard, he added that every high-level meeting has been used for the promotion of unused potentials of BIH and for promotion of construction of the Adriatic-Ionian Motorway to open ways for economic and trade cooperation in at least six states form the surrounding.

Speaking of the BIH road to the European Union, Chairman Bevanda said that on-going activities in relation to the BIH road to the European Union should be continued.

“We ask the EC to open a possibility of focusing to economic issues, which should incite creation of new values ad represent a boost for MSEs, especially for young people. I am sure that the key to many issue-solving is in the establishment of an effective coordination mechanism to which we committed in Brussels, and which certainly brings along fluency, effectiveness and clear rules for decision-making with a full respect of constitutional competences and responsibilities, which would ultimately result in a single voice of BIH”, said Chairman Bevnda on this occasion. He stressed that the priority of BIH is a fight against corruption and organised crime, and that the existing judicial, prosecutorial and law enforcement institutions and agencies work in a full capacity, so that BIH citizens and all those visiting BIH should feel safe.

At the end of the meeting, Vice-President Ashton said that the policy and economy must meet and that readiness of potential investors to Bosnia and Herzegovina depends of their sense of safety in a given political system.  She stressed that the European Union want to assist BIH and that it will consider possibilities for a new package to enable economic recovery and new jobs. She said ti is important to find, as early as possible, a way to solve the issued and that on this task, BIH enjoys a full support from all EU member countries.

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