Council of Ministers Holds Its 12th Session

SECTOR POLICES PREPAREDFOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, INTERNAL AFFFAIRS AND JUSTICE 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted project proposals comprising an IPA 2015 Proposal State Programme for BIH, worth EUR 37.2 million. The Directorate for European Integrations will provide the Proposal State IPA 2015 package for BIH to the European Commission, together with working versions of accompanying three sector plan documents for public administration, internal affairs and justice and basic rights under IPA 2015-2017 and State IPA Programme 2015 for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Council of Ministers got informed of the working versions of these three plan sector documents and tasked the Directorate for European Integrations to organise, in cooperation with responsible coordinating institutions and in full respect of constitutional competences, regular up-dating and refinement of these sector plan documents, taking into consideration  comments of the European Commission.

The Directorate for European Integrations should continue process of preparation of working sector plan documents for the remaining two sectors under IPA II, competence and innovations: local development strategies, and education; and employment and social policies, according to guidelines and deadlines set by the European Commission.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and Ministry of Civil Affairs are responsible, as sector coordinating institutions, to coordinate development of individual sector plan documents for IPA II programming, as follows; the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations is responsible for the sector plan document relating to competence and innovations at local level, while Ministry of Civil Affairs is responsible for the sector document in relation to education, employment and social policies, all in compliance with the constitution and subject to instructions provided by the Directorate for European Integrations.

 

URGENT CALL TO CROATIA TO SET-UP JOINT COMITTEES

 

The Council of Ministers assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BIH to use highest level bilateral meetings with competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia and European Union to seek meeting of undertaken contractual obligations concerning setting-up joint committees set forth under a Contract on Broder Crossing Article 3 and Agreement on Border Traffic between the two states Article 14, having regard of the seriousness of possible consequences of non-existence of these.

It has been 16 months now since the deadline passed for formation of the Joint Committees under the said treaties, although Bosnia and Herzegovina has designated its Committees members as early as on March 19 ,2014.

The Council of Ministers of BIH and BIH Presidency earlier adopted conclusions to launch an initiative for amendment of the Contract on Broder Crossings between BIH and the Rrepublic of Croatia, but the amendment procedure might only be launched after the start of operation and initial meetings of the Joint Committees for monitoring of implementation of the Contract on Broder Crossings and Agreement on Border Traffic between the two states.

The Council of Ministers took these conclusions during the adoption of Information of the State Committee for Integrated Border Management on activities in relation to formation of joint committees for the implementation monitoring of the Contract on Border Crossings and Agreement on Broder Traffic between Bosniaand Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.

 

ACTION PLAN FOR REMOVAL IN DEFICIENCIES IN ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERY REGIME

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted an Action Plan of Bosnia and Herzegovina for removal of deficiencies in anti-money laundering regime, with an aim at prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism under standards and recommendations of the Financial Action Task force – FATF.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Entities, in accordance with their constitution competences, will implement a set of measures for prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism by mid-2017. These are FATF-set obligations and recommendations under the related UN Security Council resolution 1317.

The Ministry of Security will prepare a break down of activity holders responsible for implementation of each of the measures under the Action Plan.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers will inform the FATF Secretariat of the adoption of the Action Plan.

Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to meet its international obligations by its active engagement in this area, and a considerable improvement has been achieved from this April, especially by adoption of amendments and supplements to the Criminal Code of BIH, thus complying with MOENYVAL recommendations as to criminal acts of money laundering and capture of illegitimately obtained benefit.

 

BIH MILK EXPOERT TO ATEST BIH ISNTITUTIONS EFFORTS

The Council of Ministers of BIH welcomed a decision which enabled exports of heat-treated milk and some dairy products from BIH, which came as a commandment to BIH institutions and a justified confidence in them.

Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šarović informed the Council of Ministers of BIH of this relevant decision for dairy sector, emphasising that the responsible institutions will continue its efforts on improvement of a control system in this area.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and other competent bodies intensified their activities to create conditions for export of other products from BIH, primarily dairy products, meat, poultry and eggs.

 

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION RELATED COOPERATION BETWEEN BIH AND CROATIA CONTINUES

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a proposal Agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Government of the Republic of Croatia on cooperation in the area of environmental protection and sustainable development, in order to intensify bilateral cooperation.

This way, the two states would improve cooperation in the areas of climate change, air and water protection, solid waste and chemicals management and other forms of environment protection related cooperation through joint projects, exchange of know-how and experiences and conferences. A joint committee will be formed for the needs of implementation of the Agreement, and each state will appoint in it three members, from the Ministry of Environmental and Nature Protection of the Republic of Croatia, on one side, and from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BIH  and relevant Entity Ministries, on the other side,

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations will provide a proposal Agreement, accompanied by a negotiations report to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, and Minister Mirko Šarović was proposed as the BIH signatory.

 

BIH AND SLOVAKIA TO SUPPORT YOUTH COOPERATION

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a Proposal Memorandum on Cooperation in Youth Sector between the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BIH and Ministry of Schooling, Science, Research and Sports of the Republic of Slovakia, under which the two states will incite development of youth cooperation by way of exchange of information, knowledge and research, including mutually beneficial visits.

The two states will develop annual action plans to secure a more flexible cooperation tailored for real needs of youth in both BIH and Slovakia.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs will provide the Proposal Memorandum to the BIH Presidency for further procedure.

 

BIH-SWITZERLAND AIR TRAFFIC TO BE ESTABLISHED

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a Proposal Agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Swiss Federal Council on regular aid traffic.

The conclusion of the Agreement is for the purpose of establishment of mutually beneficial air traffic between the two states, with the highest security and safety level, aiming  improvement of flow of people and goods and improvement of trade and economic growth.

The Ministry of Communications and Transport will provide the proposal Agreement to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, and Minister Slavko Matanović was proposed as the BH signatory.

 

TO IMPROVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN BIH

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report on aftercare activities of the Foreign  Investment Promotion Agency for 2014, with recommendations for improvement of BIH business environment, for the creation of business environment with the least possible administrative barriers, with high quality legal regulations, accessibility to adequate labour and more favourable funding conditions.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Agency of BIH is responsible to pass these recommendations to the competent BIH institutions, Entity Governments and Brčko District. .

 

PROJECTED 2015 ECONOMIC GROWTH 2.4 PER CENT

 

The Council of Ministers of BH took note of Information of the Directorate for Economic Planning on prospects for 2015-2018, which indicated that due to expected economic growth with partners of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIH economic growth might reach 2.3 per cent in 2015 and further 3.2 per cent in 2016.

In 2017-2018 period of time, further gradual strengthening of BIH economic growth is expected zo benefit from a more favourable external situation. So, for year 2017, the projected growth is 3.6, to be followed by an accelerated growth of 4.4 per cent in 2018.

Anticipated gradual employment and real salaries increase, would be supported by production and exports, together with upward current inflows from abroad and direct foreign investments, which all should act to produce an increase of final consumption of 6.7 per cent and investments of 8.3 per cent in 2015.

 

TO APROVE CONCESSIONAL LOANS FOR BIH ORIGINATING PROJECTS

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a report on a visit of Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šarović to the People’s Republic of China on June 8-13, 2015.

The Council of Ministers of BIH tasked the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations to send a letter of support to the Chinese part for projects from BIH for which justifiability studies have been conducted and application submitted to the Chinese Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank).

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Dr Denis Zvizdić was authorised to send the letter to the Chinese Prime Minister, accompanied by project descriptions and application for financial support for the projects, as being a developing country it poses a necessity for us to be approved favourable preferential loans with of less than two per cent interest rate.

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