Agriculture Donor Conference for BiH organised by the BiH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in cooperation with the Delegation of European Commission to BiH, opened on 17 June in Sarajevo. The event aimed to showcase the projects which were prepared by the interested parties in areas of agriculture, manufacturing and rural development, in coordination with relevant ministries of the state, entities, Brčko District, as well as cooperative associations in BiH. Mladen Zirojević, the BH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations who opened Conference, said the intention was to establish an efficient coordination between donors and the BiH government, and to develop future programme of financial assistance in agriculture directly connected to the national Strategic Plan for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers in 2008.

Johann Hesse,  Head of the Operations Section for Economic Reform and Natural Resources in the Delegation of European Commission to BiH addressed the participants of the Agriculture Donor Conference. Mr. Hesse pointed out significance of this Conference particularly regarding the funds which the EU is providing through the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) for institutional development for BiH sector of agriculture.

Annual Report 2008 on the situation of the BiH sector of agriculture, food  rural development was presented at the Conference. “Priorities in the upcoming period are closely related to the EU Accession process, primarily to the fulfillment of all the obligations arising from Stabilisation and Association Agreement,” read the Report’s foreword , written by Mladen Zirojević,  the BH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic.