Sjednice
Council of Ministers of BIH Holds Its 13th Session
07/23/2020
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a 2029-2022 Mid-Term Debt Management Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, proposed by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, in accordance with an Action Plan for implementation of the BIH Reform Agenda at the Council of Ministers level.
The Debt Management Strategy is based on the Entity and Brčko District debt management strategies, and it includes the BIH Institutions debt. It contains a debt structure review, assessment of indebtedness, and it defines mid-term debt management goals, together with guidelines for achieving thereof.
The strategic approach seeks to secure lower financing costs and a decrease of interest rate risk, with a more acceptable level of both currency and re-financing risks in relation to the current position.
The Ministry of Finance and Treasury will, on making future foreign debt arrangements, apply the guidelines defined under the 2019-2022 BIH Debt Management Mid-Term Strategy, to be posted at the Ministry of Finance sand Treasury web-site.
TO DECREASE BUDGET COSTS
The session adopted a piece of information on a proposal cooperation between the “Oracle BIH” Society and Council of Ministers of BIH and conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding.
The Ministry of Communications and Transport will set up a Wok Group, comprised of its own and staff of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BIH, Identification Documents, Evidence and Data Exchange Agency, and Indirect Taxation Administration, to make an analysis, together with Oracle staff, of use of Oracle products in the Council of Ministers institutions, and propose a more effective and transparent management model, with the main purpose of lowering total budget expanses for Oracle products used by the Council of Ministers.
The deadline for presenting the analysis to the Council of Ministers of BIH is three months from the date of the work group formation.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications will carry our activities on harmonisation of the text Memorandum, and the Minister of Communications and Transport was authorised to sign it on behalf of BIH.
The Council of Ministers wants to support the development and improvement of public administration, especially in the part of implementation of strategic documents in the ICT area.
The areas of cooperation between the Oracle and BIH are, among other things, an intensive digital transformation of the Council of Ministers and improvement of services for citizens.
ACTION PLAN FOR IMPLEMETNATION OF TAIEX MISSION RECOMMENDATION FOR CIVIL PROTECTION IN BIH
The Ministry of Security will coordinate its activities with the competent Entity and Brčko District of BIH institutions, by September 30, in order to draw an action plan for implementation of conclusions and recommendations of the Taiex Expert Mission for evaluation of BIH civil protection system.
Previously, the Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a piece of information by the Ministry of Security on conclusions and recommendations of the Taiex Expert Mission for evaluation of civil protection system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
BIH Institutions and bodies were recommended to secure the implementation of the Taiex conclusions and recommendations, within their competences, which will be reported to the Council of Ministers by the Ministry of Security.
The Taiex Mission is focused at reviewing the current situation and assessing the institutional, legislative and strategic frameworks relevant to civil protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Both conclusions and recommendations of the expert evaluation sought to provide information needed for reforms implementation, capacities up-grading and assistance to the European Commission Division for humanitarian aid and civil protection in assessment of the preparedness level of Bosnia and Herzegovina on its way to become a member of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
MORE THAN 65% ACTIVITIES REALISED
Institutions of the Council of Ministers of BIH realised 80 out of planned 122 activities last year, set in the of Communication Strategy Action Plan for public information on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU accession process; the implementation of 12 activities is on-going, while 30 activities remained unimplemented, reads the Directorate for European Integrations 2019 Report on implementation of the Communication Strategy Action Plan for public information on BIH accession process to the EU.
The piece of information includes data from 21 institutions at the Council of Ministers level.
The planned activities were to incite a need of citizens to have timely and accurate information on the accession process, to contribute to better understanding the EU accession implications to BIH and its citizens, as well as to prevent misinformation and unrealistic expectations as to benefits of the European integrations.
AGRICULTURE SECTOR GDP INCREASED FOR 12%, AND EMPLOYEES NUMBER DROPED IN 2018
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report on implementation of 2018-2021 Bosnia and Herzegovina Rural Development Strategy – 2018 Framework Document, with belonging conclusions.
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations will provide the Report to the Parliamentarian Assembly of BIH.
The Report indicated the agricultural sector GDP increased for about 12% relative to 2017. The number of the sector-employed in 2018 decreased for 12k relative to the year before, with a simultaneous increase of agricultural land surfaces in use, namely, in Republika Srpksa for 6.2 %, in the Federation of BIH for 1.9%, and in the Brčko District of BIH for 1.6%.
The financial resources planned under the Strategic Plan for 2018 were realised in the extent of 73%, while as to total planned sub-measures, activities were taken for implementation of them 40.
IMPLEMENTATION OF FRAMEWORK BIH ENERGY STRATEGY
The Council of Ministers adopted the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations-tabled Report on Framework Bosnia and Herzegovina Energy Strategy to 2035, containing information on the implemented activities in the last and those planned for this year.
The Strategy defined five key strategic aims to 2035: effective use of resources, safe and affordable energy, effective use of energy, energy transition and responsibility to natural environment, and development and harmonisation of regulatory-institutional framework.
PROGRAMME ADOPTED FOR MONITORING COUNCIL OF EUROPE SOCIAL RIGHTS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMETNATION
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Monitoring Programme of Recommendations Implementation of the Council of Europe Social Rights Committee for 2019, prepared by the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees.
The Programme was directed to monitoring of the Council of Europe Social Rights Committee recommendations from 2019, which refer, among other things, to legal regulation of rights of young workers, protection from IT-connected child abuse, setting adequate maternity benefits throughout the country, adequate regulation for night work, dangerous and hard work for pregnant women, breast feeding and small children mothers. Further recommendations refer to an adequate protection of domestic violence female victims and legal protection of families under threat of eviction.
The issues of child education and inclusion of Roma population, in addition to inclusion of children of migrants seeking asylum in BIH in the education process, are all a part of recommendations to which responsible authorities in BIH will prepare responses in a report to be drawn this year.
The Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees of BIH will pass the programme to all-level institutions in Bosna and Herzegovina responsible for implementation of the Committee recommendations, for the purpose of collecting information needed for development of the next report on implementation of the European Social (revised) Charter in BIH.
193 DIFFERENT NON-FOOD PRODUCT CONTROLLED IN PROACTIVE INSPECTION IN 2019
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a piece of information on supervision over non-food products marketed in BIH in 2019, implemented for the aim of improving consumer protection, securing freedom of movement of goods and fair market competition.
The BIH Market Supervision Agency and competent inspection services of the Entities and Brčko District of BIH carry out a pro-active and reactive surveillance of the market, thus checking the harmonisation of non-food products marketed in BIH with prescribed safety measures.
A proactive surveillance was carried out in 2019 for 23 groups of products, with 298 inspection checks, where 193 different products were controlled, of which 121 model (63%) did not match the required qualities, and as a result, 6, 278 products were withdrawn from the market and among them 4.543 were destroyed. Business entities, either voluntarily or under inspection bodies orders, harmonised 9.464 pieces of products with the prescribed safety requirements.
The Agency launched 24 reactive market surveillance cases last year, and 7.312 pieces were withdrawn or reclaimed from consumers and 324 safety pieced destroyed. A harmonisation with prescribed safety requirements was made to 21,497 pieces of products.
ADOPTED REPORT ON CONTROL PROGRAMME ON PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN FOOD
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Report on implemented control programme for pesticide residues in both herbal and animal-origin food for 2019, prepared by the BIH Food Safety Agency.
Within the monitoring programme of pesticide residues in food of herbal and animal origin, the Food Safety Agency analysed total 193 samples, of which 94 each in the Federation of BIH and Republika Srpska and 7 samples in the Brčko District of BIH.
Out of total 195 samples, those of domestic origin were 119 or 61%, imported were 74 samples or 37.9%, and for two samples (1.1%) the origin was uncertain.
Out of that number, 54 samples (27.7%) contained pesticide residuals within or above the quantification level.
The Council of Ministers tasked the BIH Food Safety Agency to continue implementing, in cooperation with the Entity and Brčko District, necessary activities as to planning, preparation and implementation of the pesticide residues control in food of herbal and animal origin.
LAST YEAR’S ECONOMIC GROWTH 2.6%, EARLY THIS YEAR SLOWDOWN
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a piece of information on macro-economic trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina for January-March 2020, which indicates that the reported period of time experienced slowing down of economic activity, relative to the same period last year, which is a global trend, given the Covid-19 pandemics.
According to the piece of information from the Directorate for Economic Planning, the global economic decrease of 3% of GDP in 2020, as per the IMF preliminary projections, with an expected fall in the EU 27 countries for about 7.5%, will have adverse effects to the economic trends in BIH.
The preliminary short-term economic indices of the BIH Statistics Agency confirm that a fall of physical volume of production for 3.8% in the Q 1 this year, compared to the same period last year. The export in the same period of time was decreased for 5.2% and import for 7.2%, which partially improved the trade balance.
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a document Bosnia and Herzegovina – Economic Trends – 2019 Annual Report, prepared by the Directorate for Economic Planning.
According to the report, Bosnia and Herzegovina made an economic growth of 2.6% last year, which represented a certain slowdown in respect to the year ago, when it was 3.3%. The central point of the 2019 economic growth was the domestic demand, through an increase of final spending, as well as investments, though to a somewhat lesser extent. Investments in the total GDP of Bosnia and Herzegovina participate with about 11.6%, with a solid growth of 6.2% last year, relative to 2018.
The average number of unemployed last year was 411.2k which was about 9% less compared to 2018, and it represented the major fall of number of the unemployed persons in BIH to date. The decrease of unemployment was evidenced in the both Entities.
According to available data for 2019, Bosnia and Herzegovina marked a fall of export for 3.49% and slowed increase of import of goods for 1.2%, which resulted in a considerable increase of goods deficit for 8.6%, while coverage of import by export was decreased for almost 3%.
CONSENT TO APPOINTMENT OF MILITARY ATTACHES
The Council of Ministers of BIH granted its consent, upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for appointment of Captain Dave Mangi to the post of Assistant Military Attaché of the United States of America for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the seat in Sarajevo.
The session granted its consent for appointment of Brigadier Sergey Iljnicki for a Military and Aviation Attaché of the Russian Federation for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with seat in Sarajevo.
The Council of Ministers granted its consent for appointment of Brigadier Su Jiyang for a Military Attaché of the People’s Republic of China for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the seat in Sarajevo.
Also, a consent was given for appointment of Colonel Kabir Rabiu for Defence Attaché of the Federal Republic of Niger for Bosnia and Herzegovina with the seat in the Federal Republic of Germany.
APPOINTMENTS
The Council of Ministers of BIH appointed Mladenko Čavar, as the first ranked on the list of the successful candidates, for a member of the Civil Service Appellation Committee, after a procedure was implemented by the Independent Committee for Selection of the Civil Service Appellation Board member and after the completed job vacancy procedure.
The Council of Ministers confirmed a proposal of the of the Federation of BIH Government on appointment of Dubravko Brdara for a member of the Independent System Operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from Croat ethnic group.
The Council of Ministers defined a proposal Decision on setting-up an ad hoc Committee of the BIH Parliamentarian Assembly of BIH for implementation of a procedure for designation of the BIH Communications Regulatory Agency Council, which the Ministry of Communications and Transport will provide to the Parliamentarian Assembly of BIH for an adoption procedure.
Members of both Chambers of the BIH Parliamentarian Assembly were proposed for the Committee, two from the House of Representatives and one from the House of Peoples, in addition to three members from the NGO sector.
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