Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Holds Its 4th Session

TWO MONTHS TO DEVELOP STRATEGIES FOR PREVENTION AND FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM 

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH, upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, took a resolution to set-up a Work Group for development of a 2015-2020 Proposal Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for prevention and fight against terrorism.

The Work Group will be comprised of representatives from the BIH Prosecutor’s Office, State-level Ministries of Security, Defence and Foreign Affairs,. State-level police and security agencies and Entity-level Ministries of Interior and Brčko District of BIH Police Department, and it will prepare, within two months from its establishment, the Proposal Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina for prevention and fight against terrorism, and provide it to the Council of Ministers of BIH.

As the next step, an accompanying action plan framework will be developed within two months and sent to the Council of Ministers of BIH for adoption. The Action Plan will focus on prevention of hate crime and terrorism in all its manifestations, on protection of critical infrastructure, improvement of investigation procedures and criminal prosecution of terrorist and similar acts, as well as on responses/reactions to possible terrorist attacks and recovering from its consequences.

Development of the Proposal Strategy and its accompanying Action Plan is in connection to the MOENYVAL recommendations.

COUNCIL OF MINSTERS OF BIH ADOPTED REGULATIONS FOR PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING, HARMONISED WITH INTENRATIONAL STANDARDS

Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, the Council of Ministers of BIH, adopted   Guidelines for fulfilment of a form and electronic data entry for registration of money transactions by payers, in compliance with international standards in relation to prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism.

These Guidelines  set forth  ways of form fulfilemtn and electronic entry of data in the procedure fo registration of money transactions ot the Fianncial-Intelligence Divison of the State Investigations and Protection Agency, subject to the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

Simultaneously, the cocunil of Misntiers of BIH took a regulation on implementation of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, which regulates in tjhis area more detail  and facilitates implementation of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

This should help payers filfil their obligations nad facilitate application of regualtions  related to misuse fo fianncila system in fight agasint money laundering and financing of terrorism.

EUR 20 MIL. FROM EIB FOR SMEs VIA PROCREDIT BANK

The Council of Ministers of BIH, upon a proposal of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, made a conclusion, confirming that allocation of the European Investment Bank loan to “ProCredit Bank” Sarajevo is compliant with provisions of the Framework Agreement of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The European Investment Bank allocates a loan to the “ProCredit Bank” Sarajevo in amount of EUR 20 million for financing of SMEs or municipalities for implementation of projects in the areas of rational use of energy, infrastructure, industry, commerce, services and protection and environmental protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BIH should, within a deadline of 30 days from receipt of an application, as provided for under the Framework Agreement of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EIB, prepare defined form of declaration and forward it to the EIB.

CoMBIH TASKED DIRECTORATE FOR ECONOMC PLANNING TO DEVELOP ECONOMIC REFORM PLAN

The Council of Ministers of BIH turned back a Proposal Information on Macroeconomic Trends for January-February 2015 for refinement to the Directorate for Economic Planning, which is tasked to prepare a comprehensive and detailed plan, based on macroeconomic trends indicators, with relevant economic reforms and reform-holder institutions, as well as proposals for betterment of legal regulations.

TO IMPOVE BUSIENSS ENVIRONMENT IN BIH BY MORE INVESTMENTS AND NEW JOBS

The Council of Ministers of BIH tasked the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency in BIH (FIPA) to prepare, in cooperation with State-level Ministries of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Finance and Treasury, and Communications and Transport, refined material on reinforced efforts to improve business environment in BIH, and to provide it to the Council of Ministers of BIH.

Also, the FIPA is tasked to prepare and provide for adoption at the Council of Ministers of BIH a separate proposal reform measures, accompanied with action plan, to be implemented at the State level, in compliance with constitutional competences.

The aim is to create a conductive business environment for investors, to be supported by relevant high quality legal framework.

SAME MECHANISMS OF PLANNING AND REPORTING IN BIH AS IN EU COUNTIRES

The Council of Ministers of BIH, upon a proposal of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, adopted Guidelines on methodology for mid-term planning, monitoring and reporting in BIH Institutions, which fully reflect the practice of counties of the European Union.

The Guidelines prescribe procedure and instruments for development of mid-term work programme of the Council of Ministers of BIH and mid-term work plans of BIH Institutions, as well as plans for implementation monitoring and reporting.

The first mid-term plan of the Council of Ministers will be prepared in 2015 for 2016-2018, and from that period on it will be prepared for every subsequent three-year period of time,a nd will serve as a basis for preparation of BIH Institutions’ three-year work plans

CoM BIH IMPROVED INTENRAL CONTORLS SYSTEM FOR BUDGET SPENDIG

The Council of Ministers of BIH took note of a Conclusion from the second session od the BIH Parliamentarian Assembly House of Peoples regarding a  discussion on a Financial Audit  of BIH Institutions Budget Execution Report for 2013, of September 24, 2014.

The Council tasked the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BIH to develop, in cooperation with all State-level institutions, a comprehensive information for the purpose of strengthening of internal control system and for more effective operations and reliability of financial reports, with an ultimate aim to establish a proper internal controls system to secure regular and up-dated accountancy and thereby reduce a risk form repetition of negative audit findings in  following audit reports.

LEGAL BAN TO LOAN INDEXING IN FOREIGN CURRENCY

The Council of Ministers considered conclusions from the 10^th session of the BIH Parliamentarian Assembly House of Representatives, of  April 8, 2015, regarding a discussion on  a report by the Central Bank of BIH on problems faced by users of loans contracted to contain a clause on indexing of the liability in Swiss francs and on measures taken for problem-solving.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations is tasked to prepare, in cooperation with the Ombudsman   for Consumers’ Rights a proposal amendment and supplements to the Law on Consumer Protection in BIH to exclusively ban loan indexing in foreign currency except for in EUR, and to prepare, in addition, amendments and supplements to other relevant legal provisions as appropriate.

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