Dr. Lagumdžija participated in the Croatia Forum: The EU solidarity with B&H must be a permanent category



Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija participated in the 9^th Croatia Forum that was held in Dubrovnik.

The Forum entitled „The integration of the Western Balkans with the EU: the current situation” was opened in the presence of the Croatian state officials, foreign ministers and other senior officials of the European Union and the Western Balkans, as well as officials of the United States, China, Canada, Japan, Russia and New Zealand and representatives of international organizations, non-governmental sector, academic association and the media.

Dr. Lagumdzija arrived directly from Srebrenica where a day before he attended marking of the 19^th anniversary of genocide, the last one that happened in Europe at the end of 20 century in order to participate in the panel discussion: „Challenges to European values“and talk about European values on this day - one of the darkest days in the history of modern Europe. He pointed out that European values are not our reality and we should make maximum efforts to ensure that European values are to become our reality, in case of Srebrenica to ensure justice and the rule of law as basic principles of Europe for innocent people who were killed and for their families, as well as to ensure that creators, those who gave orders and executors of genocide will be punished.    

Dr. Lagumdžija welcomed the stance that the European Union, when it comes to the Western Balkan countries, should not conduct the EU enlargement policy but logical integration and consolidation of European territory. Speaking about values and principles of the European Union, Dr. Lagumdzija emphasized that the same should not be just declarative commitment but reality in all countries.  

The EU solidarity with B&H and Serbia after catastrophic floods was expressed equally although these two countries have different status on European path and due to much specificity of our country, the EU solidarity with B&H must be a permanent category.

Dr. Lagumdžija had separate bilateral meetings with the EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Kristian Vigenin, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Dr. Vesna Pusić, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dačić,  Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Murray Stuart McCully, Minister of State for Foreign and Consular Affairs of Canada Lynne Yelich and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Takao Makino.

During these meetings the focus was given to preparations for the donor conference which is to be held in Brussels on 16 July 2014. Dr. Lagumdzija informed his interlocutors that damage and needs after floods are estimated at around four billion KM or 16% GDP. He said that short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of B&H in the process of recovery and reconstruction have been determined and the next priority is to provide houses for people and jobs before winter. 

Dr. Lagumdžija particularly highlighted the importance of participation of a great number of countries in the forthcoming donor conference and with regard to that he expressed gratitude to his interlocutors during bilateral meetings with officials of New Zealand, Canada and Japan who confirmed their participation in the donor conference and active contribution to the process of recovery and reconstruction.

Dr. Lagumdžija informed Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand about possibilities for investing in the field of electric power system with special accent on investment in renewable energy. He pointed to the favourable position of B&H when it is about the EU market, but also free trade agreements which provide access to markets with more than 300 million people.