“Donors’ conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia held in Brussels on 16 July was an exceptional show of support and solidarity, gathering delegations of over 60 countries and 23 international organisations, as well as representatives from the civil society and private sector”, Dr Renzo Daviddi, charge d’affaires a.i. of the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina said at a press conference held today in Sarajevo.

“The conference once again illustrated the great solidarity for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and managed to mobilise pledges of €809.2 million for Bosnia and Herzegovina and €995.2 million for Serbia. €41.4 million were pledged for cross-border activities. The pledges exceeded the financial needs for 2014 of 650M€ for BiH and 830 M€ for Serbia, which is a great success for both countries, as well as the organisers of the Donor Conference”, Daviddi stressed adding that the pledges will be published once validated.

The EU has allocated €85 million from existing and planned IPA programmes for flood relief and recovery to BiH. Out of that amount, €42 million (IPA 2011-2012-2013) are already available for BiH while €43 Million from IPA 2014 will be available soon. These funds will be used for restoring public infrastructure, supporting housing of the most vulnerable groups, supporting SMEs, assisting local NGOs in social development recovery assistance, and reducing the country’s vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters.

“Rebuilding together” was the motto of the Donors’ Conference organised to mobilise further support to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the aftermath of the recent floods. The conference was co-organised by the European Commission, France and Slovenia.

Updated information about the pledges made can be found in the database managed by the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury and available at the following website www.donormapping.ba.