The Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to BiH and EU Special Representative, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, and Mayors of Bihać, Brčko, Istočno Novo Sarajevo, Laktaši, Ljubuški, Novi Travnik, Mostar, Orašje and Teslić signed on June 2 a Memorandum of Cooperation with the aim of establishing a formal partnership/mechanism of cooperation between these municipalities and the EU funded project for support to small and medium sized enterprises.
The Municipalities and the projects have been selected through a comprehensive, fair and transparent process for the production of Feasibility Studies and designs for business infrastructure projects, with the combined potential to create over 10,000 new jobs across BiH.
Ambassador Sorensen expressed his sympathies and condolences to those who suffered losses in devastating floods in BiH which have aggravated an already difficult socio-economic situation even further. He stressed that the EU is working hard to identify steps and resources that will help the country through this difficult time and that economic recovery is even more important for BiH than ever.
“As you know, the EU is placing a focus on better economic governance in our regular dealings with all candidate and potential candidate countries. For BiH this will mean our assistance with preparation of a National Economic Reform Programme which will push forward reforms and actions to tackle this country’s labour market, achieve better co-ordination on economic and fiscal policies and create a better environment for business. With the same aim, we will also propose a Competitiveness and Growth Programme to push forward the sectoral reforms – in, for example transport, telecoms and energy – that will enhance BiH’s competitiveness, unlock investments, growth and employment. The EU over the past month have 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” Ambassador Sorensen stated.
Over the past years, the EU has provided over 20 million Euro to support SMEs and the tourism sector and help improve the business climate at local level in BiH.
For this project, the EU is providing 1.3 million Euro with the aim of contributing to increasing the competitiveness of BiH businesses by improving the supply and availability of good quality business support infrastructure ranging from business parks to innovation centres to business incubators and providing effective business support services.
The attendees were also addressed by FBiH Minister of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Sanjin Halimovic, Assistant Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Dragan Milovic and Mayor of Brčko District BiH, Anto Domic.
“EU Support to Establishment and Strengthening of Business Infrastructure to improve SME Competitiveness” is a 24-month project financed by the EU under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA 2009) in the amount of 1.3 million Euro and implemented by WYG International Ltd.
