Establishing a national integrated phytosanitary control system, capable to create and implement the BiH plant health protection policy, harmonised with international standards and EU legislation, was overall objective of two year project “Support to BiH Plant Health Protection Administration” whose successful completion was marked by final conference in Sarajevo on 24 January. The project was funded by the European Union in the amount of 790.450 EUR from the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA 2008).

“I am pleased that we gathered today to highlight numerous improvements that have been achieved in BiH phytosanitary sector in last few years and that we helped in the successful completion of the project” said Martin Schieder, Head of Operations for Economic Development, Natural Resources and Infrastructure in the Delegation of the EU to BiH.

Mr. Schieder also pointed out that the EU will support BiH also in the future development of the phytosanitary sector and for 2013 he announced three planned projects that will be implemented in cooperation with the BiH authorities in the amount of 2.2 million EUR.

“These two years of project implementation which helped us to go faster to our goals have passed very quickly. I am proud to say that the commitment of all the representatives of the entity Ministries of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Brcko District of BiH, Entity Inspectorates, Agricultural Institutes, BiH Food Safety Agency, laboratories, our Ministry and all other participants in the project contributed to progress in phytosanitary sector of our country and positive assessment by the European Commission in 2012″, said Seid Uzunović, Vice Director of BiH Plant Health Protection Administration in BIH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.

Project was implemented by a consortium led by Agriconsulting Europe SA in association with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB). Eight laws were developed and adopted during project implementation, and some more regulations are expected to be adopted in the coming weeks in this

field. In addition to the adoption of laws and regulations, numerous trainings were also conducted and brochures and manuals published.