He informed the Czech minister that our country will, by 31 December this year latest, submit her application for membership in the European Union, and on the necessary steps which would be made before the application gets submitted.

BiH Presidency has worked speedily on internal reforms in BiH. We have coordinated the implementation of the set Reform Agenda in order to make our application credible – the Chairman stated. He pointed out that any further progress of BiH on her European path would be a result of shared efforts by all institutional stakeholders in the country, and that this was a historic opportunity not to be missed.

Minister Zaorálek thanked the Chairman Dr Čović for his welcome, and pointed out that Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Czech Republic, in addition to their physical proximity, had a lot more in common than it could seem at a first glance. This refers to the traditional relations from the past, which have deepened nowadays, too.

We were glad to see positive atmosphere and progress made in late 2014. After years of deadlock and status quo, things have started moving forward in BiH by the implementation of the Reform Agenda. At this moment, we consider the Agenda an absolute priority of your country, and we are ready to offer our support – Minister Zaorálek stated.

He pointed out that most intense Czech support has been directed indeed to efforts made in the area of BiH's integration into the EU. Dr Čović informed him on these efforts at the meeting. Minister Zaorálek stated that the implementation of reforms in BiH had to be as visible as possible, so that investors from the Czech Republic can recognize BiH economy as the one ready for new investment. He also informed the Chairman on the work of the Višegrad Group, chaired by the Czech Republic now, on establishing the Western Balkans Countries Fund, using the International Višegrad Fund as a model. The Western Balkans Fund should be formally established at the next meeting of the Višegrad Group (which will also be attended by the Republic of Croatia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and Italy), to be held on 13 November this year in Prague.

The interlocutors established that political bilateral relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Czech Republic were very good and contained no unresolved issues. The current migration crisis in Europe was also discussed at the meeting, as well as the situation in our region.

The meeting was attended by Elvir Čamdžić, Head of Cabinet of BiH Presidency Member Bakir Izetbegović, and Diana Čekić, Advisor to BiH Presidency Member from Republika Srpska.