Bosnia awaits more investments

ISTANBUL

Nermin Niksic says during an interview yesterday that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian Republic are working to solve the major problems between the two entities by improving cooperation between the separate governments. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

Bosnia is looking for many more investments from Turkey, said Nermin Niksic, the prime minister of the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Turkey is one country which has stood for the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation since its creation. Politically, our level of cooperation is excellent. But we are really seeking for this same level of cooperation to be implemented in the economic field,” Niksic said in an interview at the Eurasian Economic Summit in Istanbul. “Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country with a population of 4 million and Turkey has a population of 80 million, meaning there are more than enough areas for Turkey to invest in within Bosnia,” he said.

Change in legislation

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully ready to follow the process of integration to the European Union, Niksic said.

“We strongly support this process. This is not just verbal support, but [support] in every sense. We are ready to strengthen the state institutions which are necessary to travel the road to the EU. We’ve started a lot of changes within our legislation to be fully in harmony with EU legislation,” Niksic added.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is comprised of two autonomous entities; the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian Republic. A third region, the Brcko District, is governed by a local government.

The country has been named a potential candidate for EU membership and has been a candidate for NATO membership since April 2010.

EU membership target

The fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina remains an ethnically divided country will not keep them from reaching their goal of EU membership, Niksic said.

“We want to fulfill [EU] standards because we are multi-ethnic country,” Niksic said. “It is our goal and our mission to be a member of the EU.”

According to Niksic, the Serbian Republic branch of the Bosnian government, however, only supports the EU integration verbally. “When we talk about concrete actions, we all witness the policies which indicate they are trying to find their own role as an entity and not as a part of the state. This is not acceptable if you keep in mind that the country should be a member of the EU and not two entities.”
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbian Republic are working to solve the major problems between the two entities by improving cooperation between the separate governments.
“Relations are much better than before. For the first time we’ve started to implement common projects between the two entities and two governments. This was not the situation two years ago,” Niksic said.
The first common project involves a highway stretching through all of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “There is common tender to do some parts of the highway with the two prime ministers and two governments,” Niksic said.