Šarović: The Veterinary Law Will Show Who Is For Progress in BiH

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Mirko Šarović, said at a press conference in Sarajevo today that BiH is close to fulfilling the conditions for exporting milk to the EU. He could not specify when our country will get the green light for exporting milk to the European market, but he believes that it could happen, if not this year, then next year, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

The European Union's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) asked BiH to fulfill certain conditions so that BiH milk producers could export milk to the EU. Among the last conditions that BiH had to fulfill were the elimination of milk producers from BiH whose raw milk does not meet EU standards, and the establishment of a roof institution in BiH that will coordinate milk exports to the EU and guarantee its quality.

- We said that this institution will be the Veterinary Office of BiH - said Šarović, adding that BiH could send reports to the EU's Food and Veterinary Office on how it corrected the shortcomings suggested by EU experts as early as Friday.

BiH still needs to amend key laws at the BiH level, primarily the Law on Veterinary Medicine in provisions concerning international trade, as well as the Law on Agriculture and the Law on Food.

Šarović said that during the amendment of these laws, it will be seen who in the country wants progress and who is against it, writes Patria.

Exporting milk to the EU would be a great opportunity not only for milk producers in BiH but also for the entire economy in the country. After Croatia joined the EU in 2013, BiH milk producers lost a market to which they exported millions of liters of milk annually.

- If the EU approves milk exports from BiH, it will open up an opportunity for us to more easily meet the conditions for exporting other foodstuffs of animal origin, such as eggs and meat - said Šarović, reports NAP.