Closing conference of the EU funded European Integration Training Project took place on 21 April 2008 in Sarajevo. The results of the one-year long project implemented by East West Consulting in consortium with European Consultants and EuroIuris were presented at the conference.

Within the scope of the project, 38 three-day courses were organised for around 1200 civil servants mainly on the state level, but also on the entity and Brčko District level, in order to provide civil servants with the basic knowledge about European Union, its institutions and policies, but also about current state of accession process in BiH particularly emphasizing the role of the public administration institutions in this process.

On behalf of the Delegation of European Commission to BiH, Mr. Ferdinand Kopp, Head of Operations responsible for Justice and Home Affairs, welcomed the participants and pointed out that the success of this project was not based only on financial support but also on commitment of the civil servants who had participated in it. Mr. Kopp expressed his hope that civil servants would continue upgrading their knowledge either through other EU funded project in the future or on their own initiative. He also mentioned many other trainings which had been organized and provided for the civil servants by the European Union in order to ensure that public administration works properly, adding that “European Union has invested significantly over the years in supporting trainings of civil servants and their capacities, and it will continue to do so in coming years.” 

Director of the Civil Service Agency in BiH, Mr. Jakob Finci welcomed participants and reminded that EU had been an ultimate goal of all political options in BiH for long time which had no alternative. Mr. Finci warned that road to Europe was long and therefore: „We have to be ready when Europe invites us to join them, we have to have people who know how to work with Europe; this is the reason why we organised this training.” said Mr. Finci. According to Mr. Finci, this project is an additional proof that BiH has will, strength, people and commitment to join the European Union. Mr. Finci expressed his gratitude to the Delegation of European Commission to BiH for the financial support to this project and added: “Learning about Europe is a permanent process and this is just one step in our preparations to be equal to our partners in the European Union.”

Deputy Director of the Civil Service Agency in BiH, Mr. Hazim Kadić pointed out that this was the first systematic project, and added that the government of BiH invested 3600 working days in its implementation.

Team Leader of the European Integration Training Project, Mr. Jacek Krolikowski presented an overview of curriculum, activities, results and achievements of the project.

The Conference was concluded by the ceremony of awarding certificates to the participants of the last course of this training programme. 

European Union financed the European Integration Training Project in the amount of 500,000 Euros.