Sarajevo – Participants of a meeting of the EU-BiH joint task force for implementing projects in BiH financed by the EU on Wednesday gave their support in principle to a draft of priority projects which should be implemented this year.
Republika Srpska Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic told reporters after the meeting in Sarajevo that the priorities were divided into various sectors, and that in the next week or two, a final version of the document will be drafted which will define these priorities.
According to her, the priorities are the strengthening of institutions, the fight against corruption, the socio-economic dimension which should get greater representation and the strengthening of the local development.
“Both Federal Prime Minister Nermin Niksic and I presented proposals on how to view the coming period in the context of the economy and the socio-economic sphere, where the greatest needs of society are. We as Prime Ministers know how much effort is expended in intervening in the economy and how important it is for these companies to get support in order to get back on their feet or improve their operations,” Cvijanovic said.
She said that this is a practical approach.
“We will see what will be included in the final version, but I think we are on the right path,” Cvijanovic said.
She said that the debate today concentrated on defining a document on projects for the period 2014-2017, having in mind that the new way of financing IPA 2 is significantly different from the previous arrangement and means drafted sectoral policies.
“We do not have a coordination mechanism, so that some things should be overcome in order to get support for these sectors. It is my intention for the Cabinet, all the Ministries, to study the draft of this document, and to give their comments, so that we might arrive at a final version,” Cvijanovic said.
According to her, in the next few weeks and all the way to June, activities at harmonising this document will be conducted.
“Today we resumed talks on projects we dealt with at the previous meeting, task forces were formed for the sake of harmonisation in order to revive these projects, and we are on the right path to do this for several of them,” Cvijanovic said.
The director for the Western Balkans in the European Commission Directorate-General for Enlargement, Jean-Eric Paquet, co-chaired the meeting of the joint EU-BiH task force for implementing projects in BiH financed by the EU, and the meeting was attended by Republika Srpska Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic, FBiH Prime Minister Nermin Niksic, the director of the BiH European Integration Directorate, Nevenka Savic, and Brcko District Mayor Anto Domic.
Even though it was announced that he would co-chair the meeting with Paquet, the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Vjekoslav Bevanda, did not attend the meeting.(SRNA)
