In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we want sustainable, efficient and socially equitable development in the interest of present and future generations. We want to build a dynamic economy based on knowledge and innovations-economy with greater number of better jobs and social equality. I have recently stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to create 100,000 new jobs in the next eight years. This vision is achievable if we utilize advantages we have and opportunities that arise.
Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to take part in this Forum.
I would like to thank the Delegation of the European Union for organizing this gathering.
I am very pleased to be joined today by Mr. Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey and Mr. Frank Walter Steinmeier, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany. Your presence and support are very important to us. Bosnia and Herzegovina can certainly apply many lessons and experience of highly successful development models of Germany and Turkey.
This is an excellent opportunity for representatives of authority, economic, political, civil, academic, business and media community that have gathered here to define together perspectives and strategy of socio-economic development of our country.
The focus of development of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the following period certainly must include following goals:
1. strengthening macroeconomic stability, by reducing public expenditure, upgrading public finance and better approach to sources of financing, especially for small and medium enterprises.
2. enhancing competitiveness of economy, by improving competencies of human resources, development of scientific, technological and business infrastructure, and establishment of single market and economic space.
3. employment, especially by accelerating job creation through development of small
and medium enterprise, efficient functioning of job market and adjusting education
system to market needs
4. attraction of foreign direct investments, especially through quality presentation of our comparative advantages and potential, and improvement of regulatory framework and investment climate.
5. rural development and faster development of agriculture,
6. development of energy potential, especially renewable energy sources
7. development of transport infrastructure and communication
8. development of environment management and protection
9. strengthening social protection and greater social inclusion
10. acceleration of the European Union integration process
What we need right now is a package of concrete, realistic and feasible policies and measures to accomplish these goals in the following eight years.
In order to ensure its realization and sources of financing, there must be full, sustainable and long-term consensus of domestic political, social and economic partners on this package, but it also has to be supported by the European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Bank for Development and Reconstruction and other international partners.
That would be the real Agreement for development and prosperity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we want sustainable, efficient and socially equitable development in the interest of present and future generations. We want to build a dynamic economy based on knowledge and innovations-economy with greater number of better jobs and social equality.
I have recently stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to create 100,000 new jobs in the next eight years. This vision is achievable if we utilize advantages we have and opportunities that arise.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has an excellent geographical position, distinguished by proximity of the European Union and Mediterranean markets.
We have various and rich natural resources, including unpolluted soil and favourable climate.
We have a great opportunity to develop energy sector, eco-tourism, organic agriculture, wood processing and biomass.
We have possibility to satisfy our needs for food, but also to export food-especially organic products that are highly demanded on European market.
We have quality work force, research and management staff in our country and abroad, renowned domestic companies which have experience in doing business around the world.
I am sure that with quality appearance, we can attract foreign investments and open up new markets for our companies abroad.
We must conduct economic policy that is accountable; build a rational and functional administrative apparatus which will serve the needs of citizens and economy, rather than its own needs.
This implies reducing costs and size of public administration at all levels, rationalization, removing overlaps, revising economic validity, expediency and performance of certain agencies and institutions, stopping over-expenditure and establishing criteria to gauge responsibility and performance of managerial staff in public institutions and companies.
Budget savings and accumulated assets of public companies and income should be directed in development and employment funds, especially grants and favourable loans for development of small and medium companies in the sectors where we have competitive advantages and potential.
We must decidedly fight against corruption and economic crime, make a revision of privatisation and compliance with privatisation contracts, investigate the origin of property, and ensure that Prosecutor's offices and courts accelerate criminal prosecution of the cases of corruption, economic crime, tax evasion and malversations in the privatization process. We also must be more efficient in tax and income collection.
It is also necessary to accelerate and simplify launch of business activities and investments. For instance, the procedure to register new business takes 11 steps and lasts around 37 days, which ranks our country as 174th in the world by the World Bank. This procedure must be reduced to last one day, and this can be achieved by establishing institution which would provide all services in one place.
A range of measures must be taken to improve business climate and environment, remove different administrative barriers and simplify regulatory framework for business, especially regarding payment of tax and contributions, gaining constructors licences and property recording, reduce pseudo-fiscal and tax burdens, especially regarding contributions, and introduce easements and incentives for small and medium enterprises.
Our judicial system must be more efficient and faster in persecuting economic disputes and forced execution of contractual obligations, in order to ensure a greater level of investment protection. Thus investors would be more certain in their decision to invest in our country.
Primary responsibility to conduct necessary reforms rests, of course, with domestic political actors.
However, Europe also must have a more decisive approach.
The situation we face takes a change of relation and approach- this includes us, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and our friends in Europe.
We do not ask for bar to be lowered, or conditions and obligations to be changed. It is clear to us that we must accept all the rules of Acquis Communautaire.
However, the question of when and how we will meet those requirements can be topic of more flexible approach of the European Union.
The greatest help that the European Union could provide us at this point would be to approve of candidate status of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so that we can start negotiations on certain chapters as soon as possible.
All the current preconditions for our candidacy should be transferred to negotiations on chapters in candidate status.
Thus, the current deadlock would be removed, and all the necessary reforms, including Constitution reforms, would become topic of negotiations within certain chapters that relate to them.
Let us start with obligations we can fulfil right now and that we can agree upon internally, and leave difficult ones for later.
That is flexibility that Europe can demonstrate in order to enable us to accelerate the accession process.
Bosnia and Herzegovina deserves it.
Dear friends,
Today's Forum is taking place in a very difficult moment for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our country was afflicted by natural disaster of catastrophic proportions in the past days.
It is only in the following weeks that we will have precise assessments and analyses of total private and public material damage and economic losses caused by this disaster.
However, we can say right now that damages and losses are enormous, and they can be measured in millions of BAM.
According to initial reports, 44 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Brčko District, with near 1,7 million people, were afflicted by floods and landslides.
Dozens of thousands of our citizens lost their homes and existence, hundreds of firms and agricultural parcels are flooded, roads, bridges, railway network, schools and many other private and public facilities are destroyed.
Situation in afflicted areas is extremely difficult and complex, and requires all the government institutions to engage in damage repair and removing the consequences of this affliction.
We must build a national recovery plan of afflicted areas. This plan needs to contain short-term, medium- and long term measures to be taken at all levels of authority.
Every discussion about the future development of Bosnia and Herzegovina must begin with recovery and reconstruction of afflicted areas.
The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and governments of the two entities and Brčko District, together with municipalities and cantons should jointly make an assessment of damages, as well as analysis of needs and priorities in recovery process, and based on those parameters prepare a comprehensive national recovery plan. The plan will be a product of internal agreement of institutions at all levels and will be supported by the European Union and other relevant international institutions.
We will employ all the disposable and available financial resources we possess, as well as material resources to implement the plan of recovery and reconstruction.
Nevertheless, we are aware that our needs will surpass our capacities. Hence we have decided to organize, as soon as necessary preconditions are created, an international donor conference in order to collect devices that are not available in our country.
We will require help form the European Union funds, as well as from friendly countries. Regardless of the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have candidate status and it is not in the process of pre-accession negotiations, we expect European Union members to demonstrate humanity, solidarity and will, by making it possible for our country to access, among others, assets from European Union Solidarity Fund, especially bearing in mind wider regional implications of this natural disaster.
I avail myself of this opportunity to thank European Union member countries, as well as other neighbouring and friendly countries for their help in past days.
In these very difficult moments, our country, all their citizens and institutions, need unity. This natural disaster has united us and woken again the centuries-old spirit of Bosnia and Herzegovina- the spirit of solidarity and cooperation. The nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is vital and resistant. In its history, it overcame more difficult atrocities. I am sure it will rise again- and we will reconstruct together everything that this natural disaster destroyed.
Thank you for your attention!
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