Poznan Summit: BiH receives 96.8 million euros in grant funds for highway construction

SARAJevo, (Patria) - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Denis Zvizdić is participating today in the Summit of Western Balkan Prime Ministers (WB6+EU8) in the Polish city of Poznan.

At the Summit, held within the framework of the Berlin Process, Bosnia and Herzegovina was approved a package of three investment projects in the transport sector. These are grant funds in the amount of 96.8 million euros for sections of the highway on Corridor Vc (parts of the Vukosavlje-Doboj, Zenica north-Žepče south, and Žepče south-Doboj south sections). The total value of these three projects is 433.39 million euros.

During his address, Chairman Zvizdić stated that the future of EU membership remains an unavoidable path for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region, and that the prospect of membership is an incentive for all reform processes in society, public administration, and the economy. He emphasized that the full integration of the Western Balkans serves the best interests of the continent and that it is necessary to maintain the momentum of enlargement based on regional cooperation, good neighborly relations, and the principle of own merits. He added that, although the countries are in different stages of reform and development, they share one common characteristic: they lag behind the European project in terms of development.

Therefore, Chairman Zvizdić said, Western Balkan countries need to join forces to overcome this gap and provide citizens with a higher standard of living, better social and health care, better education, and a fairer distribution of social wealth, or otherwise face social and political instability.

Chairman Zvizdić stated that good political cooperation, political stability, and economic reforms are the fundamental prerequisites for overcoming the main problems in the Western Balkans, and that a common market is much more attractive to investors if it is not divided by national borders. He stressed the urgent need to expand connectivity within the region, as well as between the region and the EU. He added that connectivity should be understood in a much broader sense than infrastructure construction, including business and digital connectivity, cultural exchange, and youth, which would increase the region's ability to compete in the global market.

He added that Bosnia and Herzegovina applied with the largest number of investment projects and received the largest amount of grant funds within the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) for 2019, worth approximately 118 million euros. He pointed out that the WBIF has supported 25 projects in BiH to date with an estimated total value of 3.3 billion euros.

Chairman Zvizdić expressed his conviction that it is of vital importance for all countries to implement the measures envisaged by the Consolidated Multi-year Action Plan for the Regional Economic Area in the Western Balkans (MAP REA) as soon as possible, which would make the economies of the Western Balkan countries more attractive to investors, leading to accelerated economic growth and preparing the economies for EU accession.

"With deeper economic integration, we also send a clear political message, showing that deepening mutual cooperation and overcoming open issues is in the common interest of all of us," said Chairman Zvizdić.

Chairman Zvizdić noted that while some progress has been made in implementing the obligations undertaken at previous Berlin Process summits and the Multi-year Action Plan for the Regional Economic Area within WB6, confirmed at the Summit in Trieste, efforts need to be intensified in certain areas.

He expressed satisfaction that two significant declarations were supported during today's Summit: the Declaration on the Recognition of Academic Qualifications in the Western Balkans and the Western Balkans Declaration on Roma and the Enlargement of the European Union. He welcomed the signing of the Memorandum on the Establishment of the International Institute for Sustainable Technologies in Southeast Europe, as well as the regional Agreement on reducing roaming costs, which is a clear example of how cooperation brings tangible benefits to citizens.

Chairman Zvizdić emphasized that the digital transformation of the societies and economies of the region's countries must be a high priority on the agenda for governments, business associations, and companies.

"The region must seize the opportunities that digitalization offers to become a more desirable place for business and new investments, but also to position digitally equipped, capable, and networked companies from the region as well as possible in the international market," said Chairman Zvizdić.

He welcomed the European Commission's plan to update and strengthen the Western Balkans Investment Framework in the coming period, focusing on environment and sustainable energy, and stressed that co-financing projects within the Connectivity Agenda and the Regional Economic Area is of great importance for the countries of the region. 

At the end of his address, Chairman Zvizdić appealed to EU member states, with whom the economies of the Western Balkans have excellent economic cooperation, to support the arguments of countries affected by EU safeguard measures on steel product imports, and to take into account the expressed need to restore disrupted traditional trade in this area to its previous framework when voting on the revision of these measures.