Chairwoman Krišto at Regional Growth Plan and Convergence Summit in Tirana

Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Borjana Krišto took part at the Growth Plan and Convergence Regional Summit in Tirana, co-hosted by Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania Edi Rama and European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi. On that occasion, the Chairwoman addressed to the “Final Entry to Single Market” Leaders’ Panel. 

Chairwoman Krišto said Bosnia and Herzegovina waits the opening of negotiations process with the EU this March. She underlined the Council of Ministers’ commitment to the European road, working speedily to meet an appropriate level of harmonisation with EU membership criteria.

The Chairwoman stressed that Bosnia and Herzegovina recognised the importance of green lanes at border-crossings, facilitating trade and transport connectivity within our region, in addition to contribution to environmental protection and decreased use of fuel and emissions reduction, together with an active participation in implementation thereof at relevant border-crossings, so we invest additional efforts to expand the initiative for more crossings.

She said that harmonisation of work time of customs officers is still an issue for economic entities, which requires additional harmonisation of regulations and bilateral agreements. She underlined the importance of investment to the border-crossings infrastructure, in order to set-up integrated control and modern system of transport along lanes at border-crossings, to enable faster circulation of goods and people across borders.

She also stressed the importance of trade with the EU for countries of the region and removal of obstacles faced with by entrepreneurs in payment operations, for which reason the harmonisation of payment system with the European standards is very important. She added that the Council of Ministers of BIH works accordingly on further harmonisation of legal and regulative framework with the acquis, in order to enable linking of our payment systems, more economically effective payment in the Western Balkans economies and set-up regional framework for limitation of payment costs within CEFTA. Emphasising the importance of the post-pandemic medical cooperation in the region, Chairwoman Krišto said BIH takes an active part in establishment of regional mechanisms for fast exchange of medical necessities and securing of medical material supply security, including a series of activities to improve its readiness and response to urgent medical situations.

She added that Bosnia and Herzegovina recognises the importance of regional instruments needed for a phased entry to the EU Single Market. In that regard, she pointed at the importance of setting-up joint rules on origin and mutual recognition with the EU, which would enable to our producers access to the EU market before a full accession to the EU. She emphasised that BIH institutions work actively on harmonisation of legislation in order to secure fulfilment of demands and join the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) soon.

“Viewed in a whole, challenges are ahead of us, together with great opportunities for improvement of our economies and further economic progress. It is of an outstanding importance to continue jointly development and implementation of appropriate regional instruments to help us harmonise our legislation and practices easier with the EU standards, which would add to integration of the Western Balkan counties to European structures”, Chairwoman Krišto said.

At the end of her address, the chairwoman said rightly these initiatives and isntruemtns rerepsnet a foundation for strengthening f the Western Balkasn region, improved competitiveness of economy and securing of stability and firtjer šrosperity of our countries.

Ling to Photo:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vijeceministara/albums/72177720315133437

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