The final conference marking the completion of the EU CARDS Twinning project “EU Support to the Statistical Sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Phase III” was held today in Sarajevo. Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to BiH Mr. Boris Iarochevitch, BiH Minister of Finance and Treasury Mr. Dragan Vrankić, BiH Agency for Statistics Director Mr. Zdenko Milinović, Deputy Director General of the Eurostat Ms. Maria Bohata, and Head of the Institutional and International Relations of the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) Ms. Claudia Cingolani, took part in the conference, emphasizing the importance of the Project in the process of the European integration.

The aim of the project was to improve data collection and harmonise statistical methods and statistical information through technical assistance and training for the three statistical institutions in BiH in line with European standards. This included assistance to the relevant authorities of BiH in drafting and implementation of macro-economic and fiscal policies. Mr. Iarochevitch stressed that Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) requires from BiH to develop a statistical system, capable of providing timely, objective and accurate data needed to plan and monitor transition and reform. “Reliable and comprehensive state level statistical indicators are needed to assess BiH’s progress in the EU accession process and in meeting different required criteria, both required by the SAA and later the Copenhagen economic criteria.”, said Mr. Iarochevitch. He also reminded that the European Council in its Decision of February 2008 on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the European Partnership with BiH referred to statistics as one of the main tasks to be implemented in the near future.

Minister Vrankić emphasized that statistics was an important tool in the decision-making process that is used in development policies and programmes in efforts to improve citizens’ lives based on clearly defined, time-framed, measurable facts. “That is why the statistical institutions, obliged to produce the official data, have to be equipped and qualified for higher efficiency in their work. They have to be authorised to use modern methods in data collection, in order to enable good decision making and creation of policies, including specific surveys, demanding censuses, different researches, analyses, economic forecasts, etc.”, said Mr. Vrankić.

Without statistics harmonised with the European and international standards, there would be no entrance into the European and international integrations, stated Mr. Milinović. He thanked all participants in the project implementation, and the European Commission for its support. “Achieved results, with which we, indeed, need to be satisfied, should be stimulation for future work, for better cooperation, elimination of all barriers in the statistical system that we have now. The Project demonstrated that we can, we will and we know how to reach the goal, which is a high quality, user-oriented and internationally recognised comparable statistics.”, explained Mr. Milinović.

Ms. Bohata pointed out that official statisticians had to cooperate in order to identify and track change in the society and to develop and monitor public policies in response. “This project focused on fundamental aspects of the work of national statistical institutes and some specific domains. It demonstrated a possibility of working together and we are happy that the European Commission and partners from the EU countries facilitated this cooperation in BiH.”, said Ms. Bohata.

In the conclusion, Ms. Cingolani expressed her content with the achievements of the project, adding that there were still some difficulties to overcome, but also that there was a strong willingness to achieve that.

About the project

The project was implemented by the Agency of Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Italian National Institute of Statistics in cooperation with the Institute of Statistics of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Institute of Statistics of Republika Srpska, the Central Bank of BiH, Statistics Denmark, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office and the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.

The European Commission has funded this Twinning project with 1.45 million EUR. The project was implemented in seven phases: application of the European standards in compilation of the national accounts, building of business registers, business statistics, external trade statistics, strengthening of the institutional capacities of BiH statistics institutes, agricultural statistics and financial sector statistics.