Representatives of the European Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions met in Banja Luka on 3 and 4 March 2011, to discuss the level of approximation of the country in the fields of agriculture and fishery with EU rules. Progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in its European Integration process depends on the country’s fulfilment of the requirements of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, amongst others in those areas. At the end of the very fruitful and constructive meeting, the European Commission and BiH agreed on the following conclusions:

The European Commission welcomed the overall appropriate implementation of the Interim Agreement with regard to agricultural and fishery products, above all the continuous liberalisation of trade of basic and processed agricultural products and fish and fishery products. Both, exports and imports of agricultural products and fish and fishery products decreased in 2010, exports from BiH to the EU however less than imports of goods of EU origin to BiH. The BiH trade deficit of these products therefore continued to decrease, despite the economic and financial crisis.

BiH agricultural and fishery products will face increased market pressure with the full liberalisation until 2013. Therefore, the EU requirements as regards food-safety, phytosanitary and veterinary issues should be addressed by BiH in legislative procedures as soon as possible and the subsequent implementation and enforcement of the law by the authorities in charge at all levels of government in BiH.

Both parties agreed to continue analysing strengths and weaknesses of the various agricultural sectors of BiH in order to better prepare the whole area for the increased competition with EU and neighbouring countries in the coming period.

The European Commission welcomed progress in the field of Geographical Indications and reiterated the importance of the adoption of the Law on Wine.

The European Commission reminded BiH to establish a country-wide rural development strategy and to agree on the main objectives for the sound development of the rural areas across BiH.

The European Commission reminded BiH to develop effective and efficient coordination and cooperation mechanisms for the approximation of BiH law to the EU legislation in the agricultural and fishery sector as well as for food-safety, phytosanitary and veterinary issues. Different standards in the two entities such as for the sanitary verification of milk should be avoided.

The European Commission called upon on all levels of government of BiH to quickly clarify and simplify the food-safety, phytosanitary and veterinary competences and to increase the administrative capacities of all related authorities and institutes. This is crucial for the export of agricultural products of BiH to the EU, in particular after the accession of Croatia to the EU.