Final conference of the EU-funded project "Support to the State Veterinary Office (SVO) in BiH" was held in Sarajevo on Wednesday, 05 November, 2008. Mr. Ferdinand Kopp, Head of Section for public administration reform issues of the Delegation of the European Commission to BiH, Mr. Matthias Heinz, representative of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to BiH, Mr. Darko Čobanov, BiH Veterinary Office Deputy Director, Mr. Eberhard Haunhorst, representative of German Consumer Protection Office, Mr. Hamdo Tinjak, Secretary of  BiH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and Mr. Sanin Tankovic, Secretary of  BiH Veterinary Office presented at the press conference achievements of this Twinning project implemented in cooperation between BiH Veterinary Office and German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

The overall objective of the project was to prepare the BiH veterinary sector for export of livestock and animal products into the European Union which has been banned since 2000. On this occasion, Mr. Kopp emphasised that BiH had a great potential in agricultural sector, but needed to harmonise it with European standards. “BiH needs to get a system concerning food safety which is compliant with the EU standards which will then enable country to export BiH products to the EU but also to ensure safety for the consumers.” – said Mr. Kopp.

The project assisted in preparation of the important legislation necessary for implementation of the EU standards and gradual alignment with the Acquis. Mr. Čobanov underlined that this Conference and the project itself was about exchange of experiences, knowledge and good practices. “Project activities were based on exchange of experiences, examples of good practices, pointing at things that needed to be improved. Our experts had opportunity to go to Germany and see how these issues are solved there in different segments. The project generated a whole set of recommendations that our relevant governing institutions at all levels should implement.” – explained Mr. Čobanov.

Mr. Heinz stated that there were two reasons why this project was supported by the German Government. “Firstly, that is accession of BiH and integration process towards the European Union, which requires a lot of technical expertise and a lot of adoption of structures and legislation. The other point is that we believe that veterinary sector may seem very technical, very specialised small field of work, but we believe that this is a key area for further economic development of BiH, especially in agricultural sector.” – said Mr. Heinz.

This conference also served as a forum for discussion on progress made by the BiH veterinary services as well as on plans for the future period at all the state, entities’ and Brcko District levels. 

About project

EU-funded project "Support to the State Veterinary Office (SVO) in BiH" was implemented since 2006. To address the main weaknesses of the veterinary sector, amongst other activities, the project supported establishing effective organisation of the State Veterinary Administration and its co-ordination with other institutions and relevant agencies, including the veterinary services at entities level and District Brcko.

European Union funded this project with 1 million Euro.