Ambassador Peter Sorensen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union/EU Special Representative together with Mr Jean-Eric Paquet, Director (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo) in the Enlargement Directorate of the European Commission today met with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, H.E. Vjekoslav Bevanda. They discussed issues of mutual concern between BiH and the EU, in particular the way forward regarding the recently launched initiative by Commissioner Füle to establish a Joint Working Group on IPA. The Working Group would look at the ways to accelerate the implementation of EU funded projects and make sure that they address immediate economic and social concerns of the country and local communities.
With 210 million Euro of projects on-going and almost 150 million Euro for projects which are yet to start, this EU assistance would be of benefit for small and medium enterprises and social inclusion programmes, for faster processing of cases in courts and for more efficient spending of public funds. Director Paquet noted that a well-established coordination and planning between all levels of authorities is crucial for proper planning of assistance under the new instrument IPA II for the years 2014-2020 and removal of the present backlogs in the implementation of projects.
In addition, they looked ahead to the EU-BIH Sub-Committee on Trade, Industry, Customs and Taxation scheduled for 26 February 2014, where questions linked to free movement of goods, business environment, industrial policy, taxation and SMEs related policies will be on the agenda. In this context, Director Paquet underlined the importance of having these sub-committees, involving all relevant stakeholders, regularly due to the important issues on the agenda, crucial for BiH and its citizens. The dialogue between the EU and BiH in these sub committees enables the country to advance towards European Standards and policies in various areas, which in turn results in higher volumes of bilateral trade and creation of new jobs.
