Lagumdžija: We expect the UN to show its solidarity with our country

 

On the occasion of the catastrophic floods that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of preparations for the donor conference and the reconstruction of the country, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zlatko Lagumdžija, organized a series of high-level meetings and gatherings at the United Nations in New York on June 9 and 10, 2014, reports the Patria news agency.

Lagumdžija held separate presentations on the situation and plans for the reconstruction of the country with UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and the Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States of the United Nations Development Programme - RBEC, Cihan Sultanoglu, as well as with the ambassadors of the Contact Group for BiH of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation - OIC.

The topic of the meetings was the consequences of the floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the assessment of needs for the flood-affected areas, as well as the reconstruction and recovery program for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Addressing those present, Lagumdžija emphasized that the united citizens across the country affected by the floods showed that they are the true United Nations of BiH. Therefore, we rightly expect the UN to show its solidarity with our country.

Thanks to volunteers from our country, meeting participants had the opportunity to view a short video made with the intention of showing the international public the scale of the disaster that hit BiH, with the aim of preparing for the donor conference and the reconstruction of the country.

Activities are underway to assess the damage caused by the floods, in which experts from the EU, the World Bank, and UNDP, as well as local experts and representatives from all levels of government, are jointly participating. The final report with the assessment of the damage caused by the catastrophic floods will be completed by June 18, so that the donor conference can be held in the first half of July.

Lagumdžija presented to his interlocutors at both separate meetings only some of the data known at this time, which speak to the scale of the catastrophic floods in BiH. More than a million people are directly affected, while 78 municipalities have been hit by the floods. He noted that about 50,000 people have been evacuated, about 20,000 displaced, while 1,400 people are accommodated in collective shelters. More than 250 schools, health and other public institutions have been damaged, and according to preliminary estimates by the World Bank, the damage in BiH amounts to 5 to 10 percent of the country's GDP.

The floods triggered more than 5,500 landslides across the country, and a particular danger is the fact that the landslides have shifted minefields, and it is estimated that about 800 square kilometers of flood-affected areas are endangered by mines.

At the meeting organized with UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and UNDP, for which interest from UN member states was exceptionally high, Dr. Lagumdžija emphasized that BiH has moved from the first phase of emergency aid to the second phase of preparation for reconstruction, which should begin in six basic sectors: transport, energy, housing, agriculture and services, water supply and sanitation, basic living conditions and employment.

A huge amount of work must and can be completed in the next six months before the start of winter, and the first priority is to repair or build housing units that were damaged or destroyed in the floods. Priorities in reconstruction are repairs to bridge and road infrastructure, waste management, water supply, and rehabilitation of landslides and agricultural land.

During the meeting organized with the ambassadors of the Contact Group for BiH of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation - OIC, Dr. Lagumdžija especially thanked for the emergency aid that OIC member states sent to the flood-affected population of BiH.

During his stay in New York, Dr. Lagumdžija also met with David H. Petraeus, Chairman of one of the largest global investment funds, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts - KKR, and discussed their investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region.