Council of Ministers of BIH Holds Its 171 Session

CONSTRUCTION OF SANITARY DEPOT IN TUZLA CANTON SUPORTED 

The Council of Ministers of BIH endorsed an Initiative of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and a negotiating team for conclusion of a Loan Contract worth EUR 6 million for Sanitary Depot Construction in Municipalities of Živinice, Banovići and Kladanj Project between Bosnia and Hercegovina and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The construction of the sanitary depot will bring a solution for years-long problems with waste waters in the three Municipalities and in the Tuzla Canton, as well; and 60 % of the project pertains to the Živinice Municipality, 30% to Banovići and 10 % to Kladanj.

The Project implementation will help all the Municipalities to improve the waste management standard, improve environment and draw the region close to the EU standards.

The loan term is 15 years, including a three-year grace period, with funds allocation to the Federation of BIH, namely, Municipalities of Živinice, Banovići and Kladanj.

The Ministry of Finance and Treasury will, after completion of negotiations provide a proposal contract the Council of Ministers of BIH for consideration.

 

FIRST ACTION PLAN ADOPTED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE

 

A Ministry of Justice-proposed Council of Ministers of BIH Action Plan for implementation of an Initiative “2019-2021 for Open Government Partnership” was adopted.

It is the first Action Plan after Bosnia and Herzegovina officially acceded in 2014 a multilateral global initiative for transparency and openness of public authorities’ activities - the Open government Partnership OGP.

The Action Plan directed to strengthening of institutions integrity, more effective public funds management, and improvement of public services by application of open data, increased institutional transparency, and improvement of cooperation and participation of civil society in public policies creation process.

Measures form the Action Plan relate to more pro-active announcements at web sites of the BIH Institutions and fulfilment of pro-active transparency standards , open data  in statistics and public procurement, development of web-platforms for drafting BIH Institutions integrity plans, budget drafting for citizens, and setting-up effective cooperation mechanisms with civil society.

 

FINALISATION OF PREARRANGEMENTS FOR ANNUAL EBRRD METING NAD INVESTMENT CONFERENCE

 

The prearrangement activities are in the final stage for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Board of Governors Annual Meeting and Investment Conference dedicated to possibilities of investment to BIH, to take place in Sarajevo, on May 7-9, 2019, one of the most important events ever held in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will these day be a centre of interest of major investors form Europe and the world, and it is with a long-run positive effect. The aim of Bosnia and Herzegovina is to have the EBRD placemen of about EUR 300 million this year for development of BIH economy.

The EBRD Annual meeting is a great opportunity for economies stronger linkage to secure a more robust growth of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a regional leaders’ summit is one among announced events.

Upon a proposal of the General Affairs Service of the BIH Institutions, with some corrections made at the session, a decision was made on cession of premises for the purpose of organisation of the 2019 EBRD Annual Meeting in Sarajevo.

 

MIGRANT SITUATION

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH considered the Ministry of Security information on situation in the area of migrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning an increased inflow of migrants to BIH.

In its report on migrant situation to be sent to the BIH Presidency. The Council of Ministers will request the Presidency support for an engagement of engineering units of the Armed Forces of BIH and a larger number of policemen from all Police structures in BIH in order to protect the Eastern part of border of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the time period form March 26 to April 1, 2019, the foreigners’ Affairs Service got registered 482 illegal migrants. During the same period of time, 459 individuals declared their intention to apply for asylum, while five of them applied for it.

According to the Foreigners’ Affairs Service, since January 1 to April 1, 2019, 3,805 illegal migrants were registered, and an intention to apply for asylum was stated by 3,446, while 77 of them applied for it.

The most of migrants arrive from Pakistan (29.5 per cent), Syria (11.9 per cent), Iraq (11.8 per cent), Algeria (10.7 per cent), and Morocco (8.9 per cent).

 

TO CONTINUE REFORMS

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH considered Information on a level of implementation of reform measures concerning a letter from Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn.

Ministries and other Institutions of the Council of Ministers of BIH will set-up their engagement on implementation of reform measures, in order to realise them until a Summit in Poznan this year, which will review a progress achieved in implementation of a multi-annual Action Plan for development on the Regional Economic Space, adopted two years ago in Trieste.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will prepare and provide to the Council of Ministers of BIH a proposal decision on formation of a coordination body for preparations of presentation of BIH for the up-coming Summit in Poznan, in late July this year.

A year upon the adoption of the Western Balkans Strategy, which stressed the importance of regional cooperation within the European road of the Western Balkans, Commissioner Hahn commends in his letter a tangible progress, emphasising that he counts on the declared dedication for continuation of realisation of what was planned, especially the connectivity agenda.

Information stresses the importance of adoption of regional agreements on roaming, trade liberalisation in services, and on experts mobility, as key results to be focused to.

Total 29 measures in the areas of Transport, energy, regional economic space, including investments, trade, mobility and digitalisation, pertain to Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

REALISATION OF CoM CONCLUSIONS

 

The Ministries of BIH, institutions and bodies of the Council of Ministers of BIH realised 846 of 924 conclusions adopted last year or 92%, and 78 conclusions have not been realised, reads a review of realisation of conclusions, drafted by the Secretariat-General of the Council of Ministers of BIH, which refers to conclusions taken in time period from January 1 to December 31, 2018. The review covered 42 institutions.

The Ministries and institutions failing to realise fully the conclusions of the Council of Ministers are obliged to fully implement them without further delay and to accelerate those activities which require more time or cooperation with other institutions.

The realisation of the Council of Ministers conclusions should be set as priority in future.

 

ADOPTED PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES REPORTS

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted separate work programmes of the Agency for Pre-School, Elementary and Secondary Education and Agency for medicines and Medical Aids of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2019.

Also adopted were separate work reports for last year submitted by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies, State Investigations and Protection Agency , Agency for Forensic Investigations, Council of State Aid, Fund for return, Institute for Intellectual Property, General Affairs Service of BIH Institutions, as well as the Annual report of the Communications Regulatory Agency.

(end)