Bevanda – Wentzel: To Support Entrepreneurs to Reconstruct Damaged Facilities

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Vjekoslav Bevanda talked with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) delegation, led by its Governor Rolf Wentzel. 

Chairman Bevanda informed the visitors on the current situation in BIH after the floods and expressed his thankfulness for the interest and readiness to support the mitigation efforts, as well as for the expressions of sympathies and condolences to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He informed the Governor Wentzel on the damage assessment activities, performed currently by an expert team of the World Bank, UN and EU, in cooperation with local authorities. He said the results will be presented on June 18, and that they will serve as a starting point for a donor conference to be organised in early July.

Governor Wenzel said the CEB will take part at the said donor conference in Sarajevo. He added that the CEB will get engaged especially in long-term housing programmes for refugees and displaced persons and support to SMEs, for which a conference to be held in Zagreb on June 22, when a framework agreement is expected to be signed to enable of funds implementation for these purposes. He added that the European community is interested for even tighter intra-regional cooperation among BH, Croatia and Serbia.

Chairman Bevanda said that the major risks for BIH are posed by damaged buildings, destroyed infrastructure, anew displacement  and unemployment, as a consequence of damaged economic facilities.

“We have to react promptly and adequately. We have to assist entrepreneurs to recover their facilities and restart their work. If we fail to do this in a timely manner, we will face in the long-run the situation of the second resettlement in the last 20 years”, Chairman Bevanda said during the meeting.

Discussion also involved mapping of mine fields that were moved from their original places due to floods and landslides, and it is a priority in rehabilitation activities.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Human Rights and refugees Damir Ljubić.

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