Press Releases
Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Holds Its 108th Session
09/17/2014
Vijeće ministara Bosne i Hercegovine
The Council of Ministers adopted and will forward to the BIH Presidency and Parliamentarian Assembly on a Budget Execution Report of BIH Institutions and International Obligations for the first half of 2014, prepared by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.
Total revenues and receivables for January-June this year were KM 489,726.00, while total realised expenditures were KM 403,880,847.00. Salaries and emoluments of employees in the BIH Institutions remained at the last two years’ level, as realised though salary cuts, to include daily food allowance, holiday allowance and per diems reductions, while additional savings were made in the entertainment costs and expenditures for fixed and mobile phones, as a result of application of new internal books of rules.
All due foreign debt servicing obligations were made-up in the first half of this year, in total amount of KM 395.31 million, out of which the principle repayment accounted for KM 349.85 million, while interests and service and other costs were up to KM 48.46 million.
EUR 10 MILLION FOR PROMOTION OF WATER SUPPLY IN TUZLA AND ZENICA
The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a proposal Agreement between the Government of Swiss Confederation and Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on financial support for the “Water Supply and Waste Waters Treatment in Bosnia and Herzegovina II Programme” (reconstruction and up-grading of water supply system and waste waters treatment in the Municipalities of Tuzla and Zenica).
Under the Agreement a grant is approved to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Government of Swiss Confederation in amount to EUR 10 million for ensuring a reliable and chemically safe water supply in the Municipalities, and for a proper storage of waste waters in Zenica, both of which are expected to improve living conditions for citizens in Tuzla and Zenica.
The Ministry of Finance and Treasury will provide the Proposal Agreement to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, accompanied by a negotiations report, while Minister Nikola Špirić is proposed for the BIH signatory.
CONSUMER PROTECTION IN BIH
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a resolution on adoption of a BIH Annual Consumer Protection Programme for 2014, developed by the BIH Consumer Protection Council, with a view at improvement of quality of life of BIH citizens and harmonisation of the area with the EU legislation.
The Programme aims to create a customs protection policy, define priorities, prepare a set of measures to be implemented by BIH institutions within defined deadlines.
The set of measures include activities under the competences of: Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations; BIH Veterinary Office; Phytosanitary Administration of BIH; Consumer Protection Council of BIH; Consumer Protection Ombudsman; Competition Council of BIH; Food Safety Agency of BIH; Market Surveillance Agency; Agency for Drugs and Medical Materials; Communications Regulatory Agency of BIH; BIH Measurement Institute; BIH Standardisation Institute; Federal Ministry of Trade; Government of the Brčko District of BIH; Entity and Brčko District inspection offices and a number of associations of consumers.
CONSENT TO TERIROTRIAL COOPERATION PROGRAMMES
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information of the Directorate for European Integrations on Territorial Cooperation Programmes in member countries, with accompanying request to sign required letters of consent before the submission of the Programmes to the European Commission for approval.
Director of the European Integrations Nevenka Savić, as the State IPA Coordinator, is authorised to sign the Letters of Consent for four 2014-2020 Programmes of Territorial Cooperation, which involve member countries of the European Union.
The Cooperation Programmes are the following: Danube Transnational Programme, worth € 19.8 million for IPA counties (Serbia, Montenegro, BIH); Adriatic-Ionian Transnational Programme – worth €15.95 mil. for IPA countries (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and BIH); Mediterranean Transnational Programme - € 9.3 mil. for IPA participating counties (Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina); and IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro, worth € 25 mil.
KM 20 MILLION FOR HOUSING OF ROMA POPULATION THIS YEAR
Upon a proposal of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, the Council of Ministers of BIH took a Resolution on Amendments of the Decision on Allocation of Budget Resources for Solving the Issue of Roma Population in Employment, Housing and Health Care in 2014 in total amount of KM 20 million.
Under the Amendments, KM 2,000,000 was planned for the housing of Roma population, KM 500,000 for employment and KM 187.000,00 for health care needs.
FLOOD-CAUSED DAMAGES AND LOSSES IN BIH TO LEVEL TO ALMOST 15 PER CENT OF GDP
The Council of Ministers of BIH took note of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its follow-up activities after the Brussels Donor Conference.
The Donor Conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina secured EUR 810,457,743, out of which UER 607.7 million are loans and EUR 137 million of grants, in addition to EUR 41.4 million grants for regional cooperation with Serbia.
Floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina were assessed to cause damages and losses to rate to almost 15 per cent of GDP, out of which 9.3 per cent in damages and 5.6 per cent of GDP in losses, which amounts to about EUR 1.27 billion in damages and EUR 63.39 in losses respectively, reads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs information.
UNICEF COOPERATION PROGRAMME
Upon a proposal of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees, the Council of Ministers of BIH endorsed an UNICEF Cooperation Programme for BIH for 2015-2019, which represents a support to efforts towards the speeded-up realisation of universal rights of child, through encouraging increased social inclusion, especially when it comes to the most vulnerable and most excluded categories of children and families.
The key priorities cover the monitoring of child rights, welfare and justice for children, preschool education and well-being for small children, including disabled children and Roma children.in BIH.
BIH AMONGST LESS INDEBTED TRANSITION COUNTIES
The Council of Ministers of BIH noted Information of the Directorate for Economic Planning on Fiscal Sustainability of BIH, which suggests that the indebtedness of 42.4 per cent of GDP categorises Bosnia and Herzegovina amongst lower indebted transition countries.
The verified total debt at the end of 2013 was almost four per cents GDP lower and it totals 38.6 per cent of GDP, while the final actual debt level is probably lower since market value of the old hard currency deposit savings and war reparation bonds at stock markets are considerably below their estimated nominal value.
The debt of Republika Srpska is 55 per cent of GDP and the debt of the Federation of BIH is 37 per cent, including the so-called “legal” potential of internal debt, but in this case, too, the indebtedness is considerably lower if instead “legal“, the actual verified internal debt is accounted for. In such case, the indebtedness of RS would be 50 per cent and of the Federation of BIH 33.6 per cent of the Entity GDP.
REALISATION OF ROAD MAP FOR EXPORT OF PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL AND HERBAL ORGIN
The Council of Ministers of BIH considered the Road Map Implementation VII Report, prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, aimed to create conditions for export of products of animal and herbal origin.
The Council recommended BIH Institutions to intensify their activities for a full realisation of the Road Map.
The Road Map contains 13 activities to be implemented by the BIH Food Safety Agency; BIH Veterinary Office and BIH Phytosanitary Administration, in addition to Entity Ministries responsible for agriculture, such as the agrarian policy, food safety system, which includes veterinary and phytosanitary activities, as well as BIH institute for Accreditation, Export Council, inspection offices and Foreign Trade Chamber of BIH.
TO CONTINUE BIH ARMED FORCES PARTICIPATION IN PEACE MISSIONS
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report of the Ministry of Defence on participation of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and police officers in peace support missions over January 1 – June 30, 2014.
The Council proposed the Parliamentarian Assembly of BIH to assess the justifiability and approve continuation of participation of the BIH Armed Forces and police officers, namely five members of the Armed Forces in DR Congo peace mission and eight members of the Armed Forces in Afghanistan International Security Support Forces.
Also, the Parliamentarian Assembly was proposed to approve participation, with a possibility of extension of the contingent of nine police officers in the Liberia UN Peace Mission, 41 police officer in South Sudan Peace Mission, i.e. in Abeua, and eight police officers in the Peace Mission in Cyprus.
The Ministry of Defence will provide the Report to the BIH Parliamentarian Assembly and BIH Presidency.
TO PROMOTE COOPERATION WITH NGO SECTOR
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Rules on Amendments and Supplements to the Rules for Consultations in of Legal Regulations Development Process, as proposed by the Ministry of Justice, for the purpose of improvement of cooperation with the civil society and consolidation of a practice of inclusion of citizens and civil society organisations into the process of shaping of public policies in BIH, in compliance with the European Commission recommendations.
The amendments of the Rules, among other things, introduce on-line consultations for the improvement of communication and reduction of consultation processes transaction costs.
This would improve the legal framework for consultations with all stakeholders in development of regulations, so that the process would be fully harmonised with the European practice in palace.
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