The Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dr Renzo Daviddi, addressed the participants of the International Business Forum in Sarajevo on Wednesday, 11 June 2014. The event was organized by the Sarajevo Canton and British Council. Dr Daviddi said that the EU’s support for BiH remains strong with floods recovery needs assessment and better economic governance being put at the top of the agenda.
Over the past months the EU has engaged in an inclusive effort to refocus political attention on the fundamentals of the economy on issues that really matter to the lives of ordinary people in BiH, and will bring real growth in the long run.
Dr Daviddi stressed that the EU has recently hosted a ‘Forum for Prosperity and Jobs’ with some 400 representatives from all segments of the society of Bosnia and Herzegovina; academia, political parties, civil society representatives, think thanks, the business community and others. In addition to this, more than 4,000 people contributed to discussions in on-line fora; all with the aim of initiating a profound socio-economic reform process that will lead to more investments, more employment, higher revenues for the public budgets, and ultimately a better standard of living for each citizen and for society as a whole.
Dr Daviddi noted that the consensus of the Forum participants was that high unemployment rates, especially among youth, low rates of investment and growth, a complicated and non-transparent business climate, and a low level of social support for the less-well-off in society are the key issues to be addressed by a coherent and comprehensive reform agenda. He concluded by saying the most urgent topics to be addressed are:
1. Taxes on jobs; to spur employment and improve competitiveness by reducing the cost of working;
2. Lowering the barriers to jobs, including by revitalising the process of collective bargaining, reducing the disincentives for hiring and, in particular, promoting inclusion of the young population in the workforce;
3. Business climate: to improve competitiveness by approving a results-based plan, aimed at improving indicator rankings (such as the World Bank’s Doing Business index – which is based on the performance of businesses in the capitol city) to match the regional average.
4. Enterprises: to quickly work on the reforms necessary to strengthen the insolvency framework, stimulate privatisation and stimulate new business creation.
5. Corruption: Corruption kills initiative and investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy. Fighting corruption will require strengthening adherence to the rule of law (police, prosecutors and judges) and deep public administration reform.
6. Social protection: Bosnia and Herzegovina must improve the targeting of social assistance through a set of measures that would make social protection policies more effective, efficient and would address those citizens with real needs.
The Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded that the reform agenda is clear. Unavoidably, it is affected by the recent devastating floods. Indeed, the damage from the floods only strengthens the need for good governance and maximum efficiency in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even more than before, those in authority must work on creating a better climate for businesses, implementing economic reforms and fighting corruption, he said.
