The first meeting of the Steering Committee of the EU funded project „Recovering SMEs in flood affected areas and strengthening their competitiveness based on local economic development partnership“, which is part of the Programme for Local-Self Government and Economic Development, was organised in Sarajevo on 20 May 2016 by the programme’s implementing partner, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the concept of financial assistance which will be provided in the framework of this project, and to exchange views and experiences on options for its delivery. The financial assistance will be awarded in form of grants through competitive calls throughout 2016-2018.

Grants will be bundled with a set of technical assistance measures, both intended to contribute to improvement of competitiveness of selected partner municipalities and small and medium sized enterprises, while prioritizing SMEs affected in floods 2014. To ensure transparency and high responsiveness to the calls, info-sessions for target groups will be organised.

The Steering Committee brings together representatives of the European Union, BiH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, FBiH Ministry of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, RS Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining as well as representative of Division for EU Assistance Coordination at the BiH Directorate for the European Integration, to provide strategic guidance to the Programme.

The project commenced at the beginning of 2016 and is currently in its inception phase. Its objective is recovery and strengthening of competitiveness of selected partner municipalities  and their SMEs from four economic sectors (wood-processing, metal-processing, agriculture and tourism). The main activities since the onset of the project were related to setting up of its implementation structure and selection of the partner municipalities. The examination and assessment of the project’s target groups in terms of the project’s objectives is ongoing.

The overall Programme is worth EUR 13 million, out of which EUR 9 million is financed by the EU for the implementation of the Project, the rest being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The project is part of the wider EU Programme for Local Development and Employment which represents follow-up of certain activities of the EU Floods Recovery Programme in economic recovery of flood affected areas and will also support the local economic development and local NGOs with social development recovery assistance.