Businessmen losing patience: Unacceptable truck jams at BiH entry

(Patria) - The crisis staff of businessmen of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, operating within the FBiH Chamber of Commerce, has sent an initiative to the BiH Coordination Body for Protection and Rescue for the urgent opening of the Izačić border crossing for the transport of goods.

Today, the same story, due to complicated procedures for entering Croatia at the Stara Gradiška border crossing and rigorous measures implemented in BiH as well, there is an endless queue of trucks on the highway in Čatrnja in Bosanska Gradiška. 

A month after the measures were introduced, we have not found an answer to a technical question; complicated procedures for political elites to agree are not needed here. A fast, efficient, and effective way for trucks to pass through already designated border crossings is needed.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Staša Košarac, stated that the green priority lane system in the Western Balkans region was launched yesterday, thanks to which vital products from the common list will have facilitated transit at designated border crossings between CEFTA countries.

And so you will easily reach the BiH border, but not enter BiH!

At the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic, 24-hour working hours for veterinary inspectors of the BiH Veterinary Office, which is part of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, were requested in order to perform their work in a timely manner and enable unimpeded transit of animal products.

“As far as our side is concerned, veterinary inspectors are fully prepared to take on this job,” added Minister Košarac.

However, the congestion is not subsiding. The number of arriving trucks is much higher, which is why kilometer-long queues are forming. There is also congestion at the border crossing, where several hundred trucks are on the Sava bridge and approaching the border crossing.