Press Releases
Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Holds 31st Session
12/17/2012
Vijeće ministara Bosne i Hercegovine
The Agreement will be signed by European Commissioner for trade Karel De Guch and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirko Šarović.
The signing of the Bilateral Agreement with the EU presumes a simultaneous completion of negotiations with 27 WTO member countries, with prevention of potential opening of new contentious issues with these countries in the sequel of negotiations, including Croatia, which becomes a party to this Agreement next year.
The signing of this Bilateral Agreement with the EU will be a strong signal to other countries, with which bilateral negotiations are still on-going, to demonstrate more flexibility and do everything they can to finalise negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina as early as possible.
The Council of Ministers of BIH defined and will send to the parliamentarian procedure a Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Protection of New Sorts of Herbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which this area is begin harmonised, pursuant to both the WTO recommendation, with the International Convention on Protection of New Sorts of Herbs and the EU acquis.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations wants to protect the intellectual property, as the protection of new sorts of herbs represents also the protection of a form of intellectual property accorded exclusively as a right to use the sort to its creator, but also established for the sake of protection of new sorts of herbs.
The harmonisation of legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a priority importance in for the implementation of the European Partnership and Interim Agreement.
The Council of Ministers of BIH took a Decision on withdrawal of eh second tranche IV of the Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF, and authorised the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to issue a promissory note of KM 116,425,042,06 to be allocated pro rata to the Federation of BIH of 2/3 and to Republika Srpska of 1/3 of the amount.
Payment of other tranches is subject to IMF quarterly review and will be approved pending on BIH’s fulfilment of its obligations.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a Decision on the minimum required amount of funds for support of foreigners during their intended stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which regulates that a foreigner on his/her entry to BIH has to have at its disposal KM 150 or equivalent for each day of his/her intended stay in BIH.
The Council of Ministers of BIH considered the realisation of conclusions adopted in the time period form Feb 23 to Sept. 27, 2012, and tasked Ministries and other institutions failing short of their full realisation to implement them fully without further delay, and to intensify preparatory activities on conclusions which realisation requires longer time or cooperation with other institutions.
A conclusion was that the realisation of conclusions of the Council of Ministers of BIH should continue to be a priority of all Ministries and other institutions, which contributes to the effectiveness of the Council of Ministers of BIH.
The Council of Ministers of BIH realised 514 or 88% out of 583 planned conclusions, while 69 of them were not realised.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Communications and Transport, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision on approval of use of KM 676,000.00 form a part of accrued surplus revenues form 2011, realised from air navigation services by the Directorate for Civil Aviation.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision on adoption of a State Annual Consumer Protection Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2012, aiming the establishment of BIH consumer protection framework policy.
The State Programme contains about consumer protection 100 measures to be implemented by competent institutions under defined deadlines.
The implementation of the measures is assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, BIH Veterinary Office, Administration for protection of Herbal Health, Consumer Protection Council, Ombudsman for Consumer Protection of BIH. BIH Competition Council, BIH Food Safety Agency, BIH Market Supervision Agency, Agency for Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Communications Regulatory Agency of BIH, Agency for Statistics of BIH, Institute for Intellectual Property of BIH, BIH Institute for Measurement, BIH Institute for Standardisation, Federal Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Trade and Tourism of Republika Srpska, Brčko District Government, Entity and Brčko District Inspectorates, and consumers associations.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision on establishment of customs tariffs for 2013,fully adjusted to an Interim Agreement.
The 2013 Customs tariff covers the nomenclature of goods in line with the Harmonised System and Combined Nomenclature used in the EU, namely marks for special requests by states and additional code marks and preferential customs rates subject to international agreements BIH concluded with certain countries or groups of countries, including tariff quotas and general and specific rules on single customs rate.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision on level of monetary part of State Sports Award of Bosnia and Herzegovina and on presentation of notes of thanks in 2012.
Under the Decision, the firs award for sports will amount to KM 10,000.00; second award will be KM 6,000.00, and third award will amount to KM 4,000.00, while fourth and fifth award will be presented as notes of thanks.
The cash part of the sports awards and notes and thanks are to be presented based on provisions of the nearer Criteria for Allocation of BIH State Sports Award, while funds are ensured form the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BIH from the grant “Co-Financing of Sports Events in 2012”.
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information form the Ministry of Security on forest fires in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the time period of August-September 2012: Activities of the Ministry of Security.
The Ministry of Security of BIH is tasked to budget funds for natural and man-made disasters.
The Ministry of Security is assigned to intensify its activities on implementation of the Council of Ministers of BIH conclusion, from its 10th session, held on June 10, 2012, pertaining to development of a study titled “Fighting Forest Fires in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
Entity governments are recommended to give their full contribution to development of the study and to work on enhancing of the fire fighting capacities, especially at local level.
Entity Governments are also recommended to undertake measures to investigate the suspects for deliberate setting of fires.
Statistics suggest that problems with fires in Bosnia and Herzegovina get intensified instead of being overcome. About 2,000 fires in forests and forest parcels were registered in the reporting period.
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury on implementation of the Annex “C” of the Agreement on Succession Issues of the Ex-SFRY, and tasked the State Attorney’s Office of BIH to continue its activities on protection of interests of BIH, under the claim by Lloyds before the Commercial Court in Belgrade.
The authorised Agent of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Joint Committee of Successor States for Annex “C” of the Agreement on Succession Issues, is directed to undertake necessary actions, subject to the Committee’s agreements, for protection of interests of BIH in the bankruptcy procedures in the Belgrade Bank and Yugo Bank agencies in New York.
The Ministry of Finance ND treasury and Central Bank of BIH are tasked to undertake all needed actions for the protection of interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina in dealing with the outstanding unsettled debts of the ex-SFRY.
The Annex “C” of the Agreement on Succession Issues governs the issue of distribution of financial claims and debts of the Ex-SFRY, and it includes foreign financial claims (cash. Gold and other pr3cious metals, deposit accounts and securities), which the Ex- SFRY or national bank of Yugoslavia kept directly or with foreign banks, in addition to joint investments by Yugoslav banks and their agencies abroad.
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted an analysis of BIH foreign exchange for the time period of January-September 2012, as prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.
Total volume of foreign exchange for the first three quarters of 2012 amounted to Km 17.33 billion, which represents a decrease for KM 281.64 or 1.60% relative to the same period last year.
In the first nine months of this year total import was valued at KM 11.41 billion or 0.30 % less than in last year’s three quarters, and export was for KM 5.93 billion or 4% lower.
Trade deficit was KM 5.48 billion KM, and coverage of import by export in the first 3 quarters of 2012 was 51.94 %, which is a 2% fall compared with the last year.
The import form the EU countries is 46.57 %, while the same ratio of 58.41% remains for BIH export to the EU out of total BIH export.
Viewed by the counties of origin of imports and export-destination countries, the most import came from Croatia, Germany, Russia, Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, China,, Austria, Turkey and Hungary, and most of exports went to Germany, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Austria, Slovenia, Montenegro, Turkey, Kosovo and Netherlands.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, the Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a regulation on entering mineral fertilizers into the Mineral Fertilizers Registry, in order to ensure that all artificial fertilizers correspond to prescribed quality requirements.
Earlier, The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a regulation on entry into the Registry of Mineral Fertilizers Distributors and Importers.
Mineral fertilizers producers and importers are due to register mineral fertilizers marketed in BIH, by December 31, 2013 at latest. The registers are kept by competent Entity and Brčko District bodies.
Also, mineral fertilizers producers and importers are due to apply for their registration into the Register of mineral fertilizers distributes and importers, by August 31, 2013 at latest. Legal or natural persons dealing with mineral fertilizers wholesale are to apply for entry into register of mineral fertilizers distributors and importers by Dec.31, 2013 at latest, while those dealing with retail sale are obliged to register by Dec. 31, 2014.
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of foreign Affairs, the Council of Ministers of BIH granted separate consents for the appointment of Colonel Widmer Markus for Military Attaché of the Swiss Confederation for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with his seat in Belgrade, and for appointment of Captain Leonidas Tsiantoulas for Military Attaché of Greece for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with his seat in Podgorica.
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