Dr Lagumdzija and officials of the State of Qatar: Bosnia and Herzegovina as regional business hub for investment of companies from Qatar



On April 6^th and 7^th, 2014, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr Zlatko Lagumdzija with the delegation of B&H pays an official visit to the State of Qatar. Today, in Doha, Dr Lagumdzija met with Prime Minister of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, and they signed the Agreement between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the State of Qatar on Regulating Employment of Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the State of Qatar and he held a lecture at the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.

Establishing a consortium of Qatari investors for Bosnia and Herzegovina was agreed at the meeting of two Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The consortium would be comprised of several renowned Qatari companies in order to invest capital in various projects aiming at creating new jobs, mainly for young people. 

Dr Al Attiyah accepted the invitation of Dr Lagumdzija and announced his visit to B&H in May as head of high-level state and business delegation. On that occasion directions for further economic cooperation should be concretized. That will be an opportunity for business people to get together around concrete projects at the Sarajevo Business Forum.  

On this occasion Dr Lagumdzija proposed projects to his interlocutors and respectively opportunities for the State of Qatar to support development of B&H economy formulated by the Joint Expert Team that was established by the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Dr Lagumdzija stated particular satisfaction concerning the Agreement on Regulating Employment of B&H Citizens in the State of Qatar that was signed today with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar Dr Al Attiyah. The Agreement will allow B&H citizens to get a job legally for the first time with guarantees of both contracting parties to enter the labour market of the State of Qatar and this, among other issues, will permit B&H construction companies to participate in quite demanding projects which Qatar is preparing to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.      

In discussion with Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Al Attiyah, Dr Lagumdzija expressed satisfaction due to exchange of visits of state-level delegations of the two countries during the last twelve months (two visits of B&H delegations to Qatar and recent visit of the delegation of the State of Qatar to B&H) and assessed that the afore-mentioned represents a sign of good will and desire for strengthening mutual relations. He emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina is quite interested in continuation of joint activities that lead to intensifying economic cooperation.   

In that regard Dr Lagumdzija and Minister Al Attiyah confirmed joint commitment that projects, which were developed together in the previous period, should get a concrete form in the near future, primarily those intended to support small and medium enterprises with special focus on youth employment.

In conversation with Dr Lagumdzija Prime Minister Al Thani expressed satisfaction with regard to intensifying political and economic cooperation between the two states and pointed out special interest in and support to continuation of activities on advancing bilateral relations between our country and Qatar.   

During the conversation Dr Lagumdzija particularly emphasized the importance of strengthening economic and trade relations between B&H and Qatar as well as presented projects prepared for Qatari investors. He underlined that the region of South-East Europe is attractive for foreign investors and that larger presence of investors from the Gulf countries in the region is evident. In this respect he pointed out to the opportunity and striving of B&H to become a regional business hub of companies from Qatar through which Qatari business people, thanks to CEFTA and Bosnia and Herzegovina is its member, would have access to market consisting of approximately 30 million consumers.  

Dr Lagumdzija invited investors from Qatar and other Gulf countries to invest in B&H during the lecture that was held at the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar in Doha where he also spoke about the concept of “shared society” and its causal connection with economic growth.