Zvizdić: I expect candidate status for BiH by the end of the year

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Denis Zvizdić and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH Mirko Šarović held a press conference today in Sarajevo on the occasion of four years of work of the current composition of the Council of Ministers of BiH.

Zvizdić pointed out that very significant progress has been made in Euro-Atlantic integrations and that all conditions for obtaining EU candidate status have been fulfilled.

"The Council of Ministers was a key generator of positive processes and we really expect to receive candidate status by the end of the year," said Zvizdić.

As the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH stated, in the last four years there has been GDP growth above three percent.

"We have the highest export growth in the Western Balkan region, we are slowly moving towards import coverage of 73 percent. Economic indicators are very positive, we have the highest tourism growth in the region and we are still the least indebted country in the EU and, to be completely precise, when we were appointed, 717,000 people were employed in BiH, and this year's figure is over 800,000," Zvizdić emphasized.

Although during the press conference he emphasized that the Council of Ministers worked and that there were no delays, it was nevertheless pointed out that "a predominantly technical issue has shifted to the level of politicking." This refers to the adoption of the Annual National Plan, which has been removed from the agenda of the BiH Council of Ministers session four times at the request of ministers from the Serbian people.

It is also important that there have been no departures to foreign battlefields from BiH in the last year.

"Currently, there are 102 adult persons on the Syrian battlefield. If BiH accepts them, they will be prosecuted in accordance with the laws of our country. What we are not satisfied with is the quality of the fight against corruption; I believe that the final depoliticization of the judiciary can help in the fight against this scourge."

Zvizdić also emphasized that the issue of borders with Serbia and Croatia needs to be resolved.

Minister Šarović said that at the beginning of the mandate, BiH could export almost nothing to the EU, and today it is expected that the issue of red meat standards will also be resolved.

"We believe that this last step will happen in 2019, everything else is finished. In the Ministry, we focused on removing barriers with neighbors, the EU, Turkey and Russia. We removed these barriers on several occasions. This was a good example that we can deal with big problems as well. We have concluded several international agreements, one of which is the agreement with Turkey, which is in the Presidency and awaits adoption. I hope it will soon be on the agenda of the Presidency and that we will quickly reach that famous billion for exports."