Sjednice
Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Holds Its 31st Session
03/26/2021
The Council of Ministers of BIH took unanimously a Draft Law on Budget of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for year 2021. The Ministry of Finance and Treasury will provide it to the BIH Presidency, responsible for proposing thereof.
The Budget secures KM 21,684,000 for containing the pandemics caused by corona virus, while the Council of Ministers will, under several resolutions, set forth beneficiaries, purpose, amount and way of use of the funds.
Total revenues, receivables and financing of BIH Institutions in 2021 are KM 1.027,100,000, which is a 3% increase relative to 2020 Budget, while the servicing of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign debt is KM 843,905,504, higher for 5%, relative to year 2020. Salaries of employees in BIH Institutions remain at the last year’s level.
Revenues from direct taxes are KM 780,000,000, as in year 2020. So, total expenditures of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of foreign debt servicing of Bosnia and Herzegovina are KM 1,871,005,504 and are higher for 4% or KM 67,452,574 relative to year 2020.
MORE THAN EUR 13.7 MILLION OF EUROPEAN UNION GRANT FOR VACCINE PROCUREMENT IN BIH
The session defined a Proposal for conclusion of a Grant Contract with Annexes I-VII between the European Union, represented by the European Commission, and Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be passed to the BIH Presidency.
The aim of the Contract is to provide non-refundable finances to BIH for implementation of actions under “EU for Health - Contribution to Availability and Access to Vaccines against Covid-19”.
It is the European Union grant of EUR 13,775,280, the implementation period of which is 18 months.
Up to 85% of these funds will be used for the procurement of medicines, vaccines against Covid-19 from the European Union member-countries, while the remaining 15% will be used for procurement of medical equipment, supplies and for other costs.
The first vaccines from this programme are expected to arrive to BIH by the end of April.
Earlier, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was designated as the responsible institution of BIH for signing direct contracts on allocation of grants for vaccines procurement within the “EU for Health” mechanism, and the Minister of Civil Affairs will, on behalf of BIH, sign direct contracts on allocation of non-refundable finances.
CONFIRMED INTEREST OF BIH FOR GRANT OF 50,000 SINOPHARM VACCINES FROM CHINA
The Council of Ministers of BIH will notify the Embassy of the Peoples’ Republic of China in BIH, that Bosnia and Herzegovina officially confirms its interest to accept a donation of 50,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines against Covid-19, thus accepting a diplomatic note by the Embassy of the Peoples’ Republic of China in Sarajevo, dated on March 24, 2021.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was charged to send immediately an official request of BIH for the offered donation of 50,000 dozes of Sinopharm vaccines against Covid-19, after which a relevant legal procedure will be implemented for the purpose of realisation of the donation to BIH.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs will be responsible for the implementation of the donation.
AMENDMENT WITH GAVI ENDORSED
The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a proposal for conclusion of an Amendment of a Contract on Vaccine Procurement – “Commitment Agreement Committed Purchase Agreement” between the Council of Ministers of BIH and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, aiming to step-up vaccines delivery to BIH, with a correction made at the session.
The Amendment creates conditions for transfer of earlier paid funds from BIH to a special GAVI sub-account, exclusively for the purpose of a speeded transfer of funds to UNICEF account for vaccines procurement.
It is a technical issue that will not cause a need for additional funds from BIH Institutions Budget, as the money was paid earlier.
JAPANESE GRANT FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MIGAGRANT CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Upon a proposal of the Ministry of Security, a Proposal Agreement was defined via exchange of notes between the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Government of Japan on non-refundable Japanese assistance in amount of JPY 500 million.
The grant of about KM eight million is aimed for containing illegal migrations and more effective migrant crisis management.
The funds will be spent to procurement of modern security cameras in order to improve border surveillance, vehicles with installed security cameras for the needs of patrols, and vans for transport of illegal migrants and law enforcement staff.
The beneficiaries of the Japanese grant are: the Ministry of Security of BIH, BIH Border Police, Foreigners’ Affairs Service, Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska, Federal Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Interior of the Unsko-Sanski Canton.
The Proposal Agreement will be sent to the BIH Presidency, while the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BIH should be the BIH signatory.
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT FOR FIGHT AGAINST ORGANISED CRIME
The Council of Ministers of BIH took the Ministry of Security-proposed decision to set-up a Work Group for development of 2021-2024 Strategy for Fight against Organised Crime in BIH, with some amendments made at the session.
The Work Group will be comprised of representatives of responsible state, entity and Brčko District institutions, who will develop the Strategy and its Action Plan within nine months time and provide it to the Council of Ministers of BIH for adoption.
Also, it so a six-months deadline for drafting and presenting to the Council of Ministers a document “Organised Crime Threat Assessment in BIH”.
PREPARATIONS FOR PUTTING IN OPERATION BRIDGE ACROSS SAVA RIVER NEAR SVILAJ
The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a piece of information by the Ministry of Communications and Transport on project realisation of construction of an inter-state bridge across the Sava River near Svilaj, including connecting border road sections on Corridor V c motorway, and on the status of construction and opening of temporary border crossing Svilaj.
The Ministry of Communications and Transport, Ministry of Security and Indirect Taxation Administration are tasked to take activities for creation of conditions for putting in function of the newly-constructed bridge accoss the Sava River, near Svijal.
DECREASED EXPORT AND IMPORT, INCLUDING BIH TRADE DEFICIT
An analysis of foreign exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina for year 2020, adopted by the Council of Ministers upon a proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, shows that the overall goods exchange in BIH was KM 27.4 billion, and was decreased for 11.6 % relative to the year before.
Last year saw a decrease of export for 8.5%, as well as fall of import for 13.4%, which affected the increase of coverage of import by export for 3.3%.
The value of goods exported was KM 10.2 billion, and the value of the goods imported was 16.98%, thus making the foreign trade deficit of KM 6.37 billion.
Practically, a fall of trade deficit was noted to be 20.4% relative to the last year.
The European Union is still our major foreign trade partner, so in the total volume of goods exchange it participated with 65.3%, followed by CEFTA 2006 counties, which participated with 14%, while the share of other counties was 20.7%.
In 2020, Bosnia and Herzegovina exported mostly to Germany (KM 1.63 million), Croatia (KM 1.36 billion), Serbia (KM 1.15 billion), Italy (KM 1.02 billion), Austria (KM 1.01 billion), Slovenia (KM 980 million), Turkey (KM 314.5% million), and Montenegro (KM 293.1 million).
Also, the most of import was from Germany (KM 2.07 bil.), Italy (KM 1.95 bil.), Serbia (KM 1.90 bil.), Croatia (KM 1.53 bil.), China (KM 1.36 bil.), Turkey (KM 896 mil.), Slovenia (KM 840.87 mil.), and from Austria (KM 682.57 mil.)
As among foreign trade partners, our best coverage of import by export was with Austria (147%), Slovenia (113%), Croatia (89%), Germany (78.6%), France (78%), Serbia (61%), and Italy (52%). Other than these countries, an important BIH trade partner was China, but the coverage of import by export with this country was slight, only 1.9%.
ADOPTED ANNUAL PLATFORM ON INTELLIGENCE-SECURITY POLICY
Upon a proposal of the Chairman, the session considered an Annual Platform on Intelligence-Security Policy for 2021, prepared by the Council of Ministers of BIH.
The Platform will be provided to the BIH Presidency for consideration.
It contains general guidelines for operations of the Intelligence-Security Agency of BIH, in accordance with international standards.
The Platform adoption will define the annual work of the Agency, its tasks, goals and priorities in its operations.
APPOINTEMETNS
The Council of Ministers of BIH appointed Vesna Ćužić for Manager and Radmila Ćirković and Adnan Cerić for Deputy Managers of the Statistics Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the best ranked candidates in the Agency for Civil Service Opinion, after a completed job vacancy procedure.
The session took a resolution to appoint Davorin Primorac for Manager of the Agency for Air Navigation Services of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHANSA) and Tomislav Marinković for Deputy Manger and BHANSA Operations, Technical and Service Sector Manager.
The Manager and Deputy Manager were appointed at five-year term.
FORMED WORK GROUP FOR SOCIAL DIALOGUE IN BIH INSTITUTIONS
The session took a decision to form a Work Group for social dialogue with trade unions with BIH Institutions.
Representatives of three trade unions, namely, police bodies in BIH, civil servants and employees in BIH Institutions, including the Indirect Taxation Administration, state Ministries of Finance and Treasury, Security and Justice, were appointed to the Work Group.
The Work Group will be tasked to consider issues and propose measures for improvement of status of employees in BIH Institutions.
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