Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to BiH Khaldoun Sinno, USAID Mission Director for BiH Peter Duffy, Head of Cooperation at Embassy of Sweden in Sarajevo in BiH Marie Bergström and Chief of Party of USAID/Sweden FARMA II Project Adrian Neal, attended today a meeting of the Inter-sectoral Committee for the Development of the Strategic Plan for Rural Development, organized and chaired by the BiH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Sarovic.

The meeting which was also attended by the representatives of competent entity ministries, marked the beginning of the work on the development of the country-wide rural development strategic plan.

Representatives of the EU, SIDA and USAID welcomed this important development and engagement of all responsible authorities from all levels to work together on this urgent task.

The adoption of the comprehensive, country-wide strategy agriculture and rural development strategy is a long pending requirement for BiH that would open the door for more EU assistance in this sector to support the reform process and sustainable economic growth of the country. This strategy should include multi-annual action plan and budget to make sure it is duly implemented in the years ahead.

However, the IPA II funds would only be available if the country adopts the strategy this year. If this opportunity is missed, the country will have to wait until 2021 to be taken into consideration for EU assistance in this area.

Full involvement and ownership of all relevant authorities in the development of the strategy and good coordination is essential for the success.

The EU Office, its partners SIDA and USAID, stand ready to support BiH authorities in this process.