Head of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas chaired today the Donor Coordination Forum in BiH. The forum is organised with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in BiH and gathers representatives of the European Commission, international financial organisations (World Bank, EBRD, KfW, UN Agencies), EU Member States financial cooperation agencies and other major bilateral donors (USAID, Canadian International Development Agency, Swiss Development Cooperation, Norway).

The main purpose of the meeting was to explain the objectives of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EC and BiH, and discuss the current state of affairs regarding financial assistance of the EC and the donor community to support its implementation. The key players in the BiH government were invited to present the measures and structures that BiH intends to put in place to implement the SAA and the financial assistance of the EC.

Ambassador Kourkoulas stressed in his opening address how important this moment was for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that this meeting was more than timely and appropriate. He underlined that the signature of the SAA with BiH is expected to take place on June 16, 2008 in Luxembourg. “Once the agreement is signed, it establishes obligations on both sides which can be enforced, as well as the framework for the progressive transformation of BiH into an EU-compatible country. A good track record in implementing the SAA will be a benchmark for granting a candidate status to BiH.”, pointed out the Ambassador. In the light of the main issue of the meeting, Ambassador Kourkoulas underlined: Financial assistance needs to be complementary to BiH own national development strategies and will be managed by BiH once the proper institutions are put in place.

On behalf of the Directorate for the European Integration of BiH (DEI), Ms. Darija Ramljak expressed readiness to take over the obligation of the SAA. In that regard, she put focus on the area of taxation and customs duties where the first measures need to be implemented and resolved by July 1, 2008 by BiH authorities. Underlining DEI’s awareness of how complex it is to implement the obligations defined by SAA, Ms Ramljak said: “We need to have a period of good implementation of SAA in order to be able to apply for EU membership .” and added that the same message was sent also to the BiH authorities. In her address she presented the capacities and structures needed for implementation of the SAA.

Mr. Giulio Zanni, Political Adviser and Mr. Emil Okanović Economic Adviser from the EC Delegation to BiH, provided a detailed overview of the SAA with all its specifics related to the implementation and impact it would have on the Bosnia and Herzegovina. Beside closer political dialogue, enhanced regional cooperation, harmonisation of legislation and cooperation in a variety of sectors, main focus of the SAA discussion was put on establishment of the free-trade area. “The EU and BiH committed to a gradual establishment of a free trade area during the period lasting at most 5 years from the Interim Agreement entering into force., explained Mr. Okanović. Furthermore, his presentation provided an insight into Community and BiH obligations in the areas of Industrial Products, Agriculture and Fisheries, Geographic Indications and General Obligations. “Given that BiH is granted transitional periods to adjust slowly to various pressures from the SAA implementation, BiH should act promptly with the needed reforms and should not delay adjustments”, concluded Mr. Okanović.

Further presentations, given by representatives of BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Mrs Vera Letica, and Directorate for Economic Planning, Mrs Ljerka Maric, dealt with the state of play preparation of a BiH National Development Strategy, a Social Inclusion Strategy and BiH structures for decentralised implementation of EU assistance. Mr. Andre Lys, Head of Operations of the European Commission Delegation to BiH, provided the participants with an update on the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) through which  440 million € have already been allocated for BiH for the  period 2007-2011.