Should BiH also pay lobbyists in America?

Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have engaged lobbyists who would work for the interests of the entire country. A diplomatic source told the BiH news agency Patria (NAP) that "there is no common stance in the country, while on the other hand, RS acts from its own position. The state should have a unified stance, but that cannot be realistically expected now," says this source.

Zekerijah Smajić, a journalist and expert on European Union issues, told NAP that lobbying is an extremely important, and even more neglected, area that should finally be discussed daily.

- Lobbying is one of the most prestigious and best-paid professions in the modern world. In this business, former heads of state, prime ministers, ministers, professors, reputable journalists, legal and political advisors, etc., are most common. The American school of lobbying is the most famous, and the British school is the most respected. In Brussels alone, there are about 50,000 professionals living and working today who make a living from lobbying, i.e., advocating for the interests of their clients from all possible spheres of life and work - from 'pure' politics, through business, to international promotion of the interests of those who need such services, such as Republika Srpska - Smajić states.

Precisely Republika Srpska, as some media have previously reported, has opened its representative offices in Belgrade, Brussels, Vienna, Moscow, Stuttgart, Jerusalem, and Thessaloniki. The RS representative office in Washington, the eighth in a row, was opened on October 12, 2013. It was preceded by bilateral meetings of the RS delegation with representatives of the US administration and foreign policy experts. Otherwise, such representative offices are considered a legitimate form of political action.

In the official register of the US Department of Justice, there are several lobbying firms, representative offices, and initiatives that transparently lobby for the interests of RS in Washington, while no one is lobbying for the interests of the state of BiH, according to this register. In the past four years, according to the opposition from RS, millions of budget funds have been allocated for this purpose.

- In our region, lobbying is most valued in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Republika Srpska - in that order. The Federation of BiH does not even have a formal legal unit that would deal with advocacy, education in this area, etc. Therefore, among other things, the image of BiH in the world is what it is. Almost 20 years after the war, the perception of BiH in the West is that we are a country in conflict and mined, a high-risk zone undesirable for tourists and foreign investors, and most residents of more distant European and overseas countries still think we are part of the Russian Federation, former Czechoslovakia - says Smajić.

Smajić believes that our official diplomacy is "weak, nationally divided, and subservient, which is why we cannot expect foreign billionaires to flock to our destinations and invest." Therefore, without good lobbying, there is no good global image.