Dr. Lagumdzija – Prime Minister Vucic: Joint projects of B&H and Serbia enable access to the significant source of the EU funding



On 13 May, 2014, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Zlatko Lagumdzija met in Sarajevo with Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Lagumdzija congratulated Prime Minister Vucic on his appointment and welcomed his decision to make his first trip abroad to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He emphasized that this visit confirms that the Republic of Serbia wants to further develop and improve relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. On this occasion Dr. Lagumdzija recalled that he made his first visit to Serbia.

Prime Minister Vucic invited Dr. Lagumdzija to hold a consultative meeting of the two countries in Belgrade by the end of May in order to make preparations for the upcoming meeting of the European Commission and representatives of the Western Balkan countries. The meeting will be held in the next month with the aim to implement an agreement reached in Thessaloniki concerning the decision of the European Commission to provide one billion euro by itself for the next five years and additional ten billion aimed at financing development of the infrastructure, electro-energy sector and strengthening economy and the rule of law through different financial institutions for regional projects. Both sides agreed that Serbia and B&H, as two largest countries in the Western Balkan region, have an opportunity to withdraw significant source of EU funding through joint projects and they should take advantage of this opportunity.

Dr. Lagumdzija and Prime Minister Vucic agreed that bilateral relations between B&H and Serbia keep moving forward and they emphasized that these relations are important for an overall regional cooperation that contributes to the region to become secure and more attractive to future investment. In this context, the interlocutors said that common priorities of the two countries in the next period should be creating new opportunities for cooperation, focusing on the projects of strategic infrastructure, enhancing economy, and building a joint venture in third markets and providing conditions to become more competitive economies in general. At the meeting both sides expressed their strong commitment to resolve the outstanding issues that have been on agenda in recent years and they also emphasized the importance of holding joint sessions of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

During the meeting Dr. Lagumdzija and Prime Minister Vucic expressed their satisfaction with the fact that economic cooperation has always been one of the most important topics at bilateral meetings at all levels and they assessed that a legal framework, regulated under concluded bilateral agreements and other international acts, must be fully used in order to further enhance economic cooperation.

During the conversation, they extended their support to establishing the consortium and joint work in the promotion of investment potential of the two countries.

Dr. Lagumdzija and Prime Minister Vucic exchanged their views and information on European integration of B&H and Serbia and on this occasion they expressed mutual support and readiness to cooperate in this area.