Opening of Doha – Sarajevo route given priority

The arrival of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in Sarajevo has shown a new bright perspective for relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the richest countries in the world. That visit also opened some serious questions.  

Following the reporting by “Patria“ on the issue of opening the Doha – Sarajevo route, which was supposed to be launched in 2013, Zoran Andrić, Assistant Minister of Communications and Transport, speaks about the reasons for the delay.     

ANDRIĆ: It is true that I received the Qatari delegation during their visit to BiH at that time, where I discussed the establishment of a regular air route between the two countries on behalf of the minister. However, then as now, there are no obstacles to establishing the route. The protocol is not an obstacle to establishing regular air traffic between the two countries.

How did that long-ago meeting and agreement on opening the route go?  

ANDRIĆ: The last meeting was held in Qatar in 2012, when the heads of delegations signed a Memorandum of Understanding that entered into force on the day of signing. And what may have been unclear under the 1998 Agreement was clarified by the 2012 Memorandum. As far as Bosnia and Herzegovina is concerned, there are no obstacles for the Qatari air carrier to begin operations in accordance with the Memorandum, except for procedural notifications of the start of transport operations. We confirmed this at the meeting held at the Ministry. It was not the Commission for Interstate Relations between Qatar and BiH, but we used the presence of Qatari representatives to discuss this topic. On that occasion, in order to speed up the procedure, we directly handed over our texts to the other side.

The Patria agency was told that the state protocol is a standard procedure by which Qatar certifies such relations.

ANDRIĆ: The protocol amending the 1998 Agreement was finally confirmed by the Qatari side in June 2014, and any change of wording in the protocol, which has the force of an agreement, requires a new procedure on our side. The protocol will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers of BiH; the confirmation procedure has been completed. We expect it to be considered soon and forwarded to the Presidency of BiH.

Whatever justifications are found, it was and still is a simple initialling, so it is unclear why the wait has been so long. 

ANDRIĆ: Part of the reason for the procedure is the lack of an officer in the Ministry dealing with these issues. The official who served as an advisor for air transport moved to the Ministry of Security of BiH in 2014, and the announced competition to fill the vacant position was later cancelled. Air transport matters are regulated according to priorities; the protocol is not sitting in any drawer, it is current and in the final stage for submission to the Council of Ministers of BiH. It is true that we are late with activities for several reasons on our side, but it is also true that there are no obstacles to establishing the air route. In June 2014, we received notification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH that the Qatari side had finalized the text of the protocol. The letter was prepared for submission to the Council of Ministers, but was not signed. We have prioritized completing this activity.

The Qatari side also requested the possibility for Sarajevo Airport to be a transit destination. 

ANDRIĆ: What the Qatari side needs is that between two destinations, it can land in Sarajevo. For example, on the Rome – Doha route, to also include Sarajevo. In air traffic, this is the concept of „fifth freedom“. At the meeting held in 2013, we confirmed that there are no obstacles to this in BiH. We currently have no carrier in BiH interested in this flight, but we will do everything to enable the Qatari carrier to start flights.