Minister Špirić Receives Ambassador of Austria



Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH and Minister of Finance and Treasury Dr Nikola Špirić received today Ambassador of Austria in BIH Donatus Kock.

The meeting stressed that Austria and BIH enjoy good bilateral cooperation, with considerable Austrian investments in BIH.

Minister Špirić said Austria is one among a few countries with which BIH has a trade surplus, so that activities on creation of conducive environment for economic cooperation would be a necessity.

They agreed that the adoption of the BIH Budget for 2012 is a positive and important step forward for the country to move further in the reform implementation process and EU Integrations related activities.

Minister Špirić said that funds were provided for all BIH institutions and projects relevant to BIH’s path to the EU, although this year’s Budget is restrictive and implies savings in administrative expenses.

“From the State level, we have to display responsibility and solidarity, as well, with the Entities, which have to budget funds for the education and health sectors and for a variety of social benefits, while 85 % of State level Budget accounts for salaries and reimbursements to employees”, Špirić underlined.

Minister Špirić informed Ambassador Kock of the current political developments in BIH, and assessed that political discord among coalition partners in the Federation of BIH need to be solved more quickly so that the up-coming negotiations with the IMF would not be interfered.

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