Dr. Lagumdzija with Ban Ki-moon and Ash: The UN will provide support to B&H’s recovery after catastrophic floods



On the second day of his participation in the events and meetings at the United Nations dedicated to catastrophic floods that affected our country, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr. Zlatko Lagumdzija met with Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon and President of the UN General Assembly John W. Ash.

Dr. Lagumdzija informed Secretary General Ki-moon about the scope of the damage caused by catastrophic floods and he presented a short video clip made by volunteers from B&H which shows the scope of the damage in our country.

Watching video clip is available via link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvMHDEofdbk&hd=1 – bos

He expressed gratitude to the UN Secretary General for providing assistance to reduce consequences of the worst natural disaster that affected our country over the past 120 years. He specifically highlighted the efficient cooperation of the UN team in B&H headed by Yuri Afanasiev who promptly reacted and has been working together with B&H institutions to reduce consequences of the floods.

Dr. Lagumdzija stressed that activities on assessment of damage undertaken by international and B&H experts are ongoing and the final report is expected to be completed by 18 June. Following the final report, the donor conference is planned to be held in the first part of July this year.

He also emphasized that the phase of emergency aid is completed and now the phase of reconstruction will start and its main priority, till the beginning of winter, is to repair housing units in order to provide houses for people whose homes were damaged or completely destroyed in floods. A special focus will be given to providing support to economic entities who suffered huge damage in order to keep the jobs, as well as to create new jobs through the process of reconstruction and country's recovery.

Priorities of the process of recovery are also to repair infrastructure objects such as bridges and roads, than waste disposal, water supply and soil rehabilitation.

Secretary General Ki-moon, once more, expressed his condolence to the families of victims and he assessed that the action of those who were involved in the rescue operations was positive. He added that the United Nations work together with the European Union, the World Bank and experts from B&H on the damage assessment caused by floods and it will actively participate in the process of reconstruction and recovery. The United Nations will actively participate in the donor conference as well.

Dr. Lagumdzija informed the UN Secretary General of the initiative to establish monitoring team at the state level which will include representatives of B&H authorities, international institutions, donors, academic association, non-governmental sector and media to control spending of financial funds that will be collected at the donor conference to help repair the consequences of floods, reconstruction and country's recovery.

During the meeting with President of the UN General Assembly John W. Ash, Dr. Lagumdzija expressed gratitude to the UN and its agencies and organizations which have been involved from the first day in providing assistance to citizens of B&H affected by catastrophic floods.

During his visit to New York, Dr. Lagumdzija addressed the high-level meeting „Contribution of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Post-2015 Development Agenda“ that was organized by the President of the UN General Assembly who was also a keynote speaker in the panel discussion „Towards a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda: Integration of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Post-2015 Development Agenda with the aim to improve development results“.

Dr. Lagumdzja spoke about the importance of sustainable development and fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adding that the same should be fulfilled through democratic institution building process in order to create environment for the rule of law, economic competition and efficient governing.

„Defined legal framework and stable institutions are necessary for Bosnia and Herzegovina with the aim to attract foreign direct investment, to achieve further economic development, to continue the process of reconciliation and to create political stability“, emphasized Dr. Lagumdzija.

He added that sustainable development is a general goal of Bosnia and Herzegovina which still faces consequences of war and now consequences of floods that have not been ever recorded in its history. He also said that defined development goals can be accomplished through strengthening transparency, efficiency and responsibility of public institutions and their representatives.

Answering questions about what needs to be done in order to achieve defined goals, Dr. Lagumdzija said that the answer lies within the human resource development, not only to develop professional skills and knowledge but also to preserve moral values and ethics of common societies united in their diversity.