Zvizdić with World Bank Executive Director on new strategy for BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patrai) - Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Zvizdić met today with World Bank Executive Director Koen Davidse, with whom he discussed the preparation of a new four-year strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the priorities of cooperation with the World Bank.

They emphasized that this document defines the most important areas for the World Bank's program, the BiH Parliament announced.

Chairman Zvizdić thanked for all the projects that the World Bank has financed and implemented in the previous period, especially for programs to improve road infrastructure, strengthen and develop small and medium-sized enterprises, energy efficiency projects in public buildings, as well as projects in the area of healthcare sector restructuring. He said that in the preparation of a new partnership agreement, further support for infrastructure projects, private entrepreneurship, environmental protection, as well as the continuation of reforms in all segments is necessary to strengthen the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Zvizdić said that it would be important for BiH to continue working on other projects in the thermal energy sector, considering the positive results of the desulfurization project at the Ugljevik Thermal Power Plant, with a special focus on the Kakanj Thermal Power Plant, as well as to analyze the possibility of participating in the implementation of the gas pipeline construction project towards the south, to the border of BiH and Croatia.

Chairman Zvizdić particularly emphasized the importance of cooperation at the expert and technical level, in order, based on good practices, to shorten and speed up procedures for issuing building permits and for company registration, thereby significantly improving the parameters for assessing the ease of doing business and thus improving BiH's position on the Doing Business list.

Zvizdić and Director Koen also discussed the upcoming annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Constituency, which will be held in Sarajevo in June this year. It was assessed that the meeting will be a good opportunity for further establishing BiH within cooperation with international financial institutions.