International Conference in Sarajevo: What Can We Learn from the BiH Diaspora

Stories about successful citizens living outside BiH encourage and motivate us. However, a real systemic and dedicated approach to their needs unfortunately does not exist – criticize the Institute for Islamic Tradition of Bosniaks, which is organizing the International Conference "Diasporal and Migrant Identities" today and tomorrow in Sarajevo, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

The BiH diaspora sends about 3.5 billion marks to BiH annually. According to the governor of the Central Bank of BiH, Kemal Kozarić, this is one of the most significant components that closes the current account deficit in BiH.

Speaking in this context, the governor said that the authorities should establish a stronger connection with our people from abroad. Not to see them only as senders of money, but to encourage them as investors, and to ask them to send new knowledge and new business logics and habits to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would contribute to stronger economic growth in BiH.

The Institute for Islamic Tradition of Bosniaks also states that the socio-cultural and religious dimension of the BiH diaspora is unjustly neglected, and that this must change.

Partners of the Institute for Islamic Tradition of Bosniaks in the realization of the conference in Sarajevo are the Directorate for Turks Abroad and Related Communities under the Prime Minister's Office of the Government of Turkey, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the International University of Sarajevo (IUS), reports NAP.