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SARAJEVO, April 26 (FENA) - Chairman and members of the BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegović, Dragan Čović and Mladen Ivanić met today in Sarajevo with the European Council President Donald Tusk, who arrived in Sarajevo as part of his visit to the Western Balkans region.
The purpose of the visit was to prepare for the upcoming summit of the EU and the Western Balkans in Sofia on May 17, in which the BiH delegation will be led by Chairman Izetbegović.
“We gladly accepted to take part in the summit. At the beginning of this week, BiH joined the Draft Summit Declaration in Sofia, and the Council of Ministers of BiH is preparing responses to Mr. Hahn’s additional questions,” said Izetbegović.
At today's meeting, they informed Tusk about the situation in the country - the complexity of the structures and the institutions setup in order for him to easier understand the slowness of BiH progress on the European path.
“Sometimes it seems that bad messages from BiH are never-ending and that the crises never stop. In spite of this complex structure within which we have reach decisions, we have made significant progress in the past three years with stable GDP growth of around 3 percent; we create about 15,000 new jobs each year. We hope that we will get a candidate status in 2018 in order to keep this momentum and enthusiasm,” Izetbegović said.
Izetbegović asked Tusk to help find a mutually acceptable solution, both for BiH and Croatia, for the construction of the Pelješac Bridge.
“A solution that would satisfy Croatian interests and but also the rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Nothing more or less than that,” Izetbegović underlined.
Then, Čović reacted with touching on the topic of the Pelješac Bridge in his address to the media after the meeting, stating that “the Pelješac Bridge is an interest of BiH,” and thanked the European Union for supporting the project.
“Because of all of you present here today, I would like to say that the question of the Pelješac Bridge is an internal matter of the Republic of Croatia, and not BiH, and we have a very clear position on this in the Office of the Croat member of the Presidency, and in all the institutions of BiH. I would like to ask not to bring in these issues to the agenda when friends come to visit us because we are not helping ourselves or even building this project. We hope that we in BiH will understand, as soon as possible, that these sensitive issues with our neighbors should first be agreed upon in the institutions of BiH, and then go to the public with individual views or those that stem from political party interests,” said Čović.
Mladen Ivanić expressed gratitude to Tusk and the European Union institutions, which have definitely have prepared additional support for the European perspective of all Western Balkan countries for the upcoming Summit in Sofia.
Tusk stressed that the Summit for the Western Balkans should be an opportunity to confirm the European prospect for the entire Western Balkans.
“The EU is the most reliable partner to the Western Balkans, and it is also the largest investor and the largest donor and trading partner for the entire region.
Also, the Summit will be a chance to improve the program of people connectivity, digitization and infrastructure. We want to connect the Balkans and the EU through growth and development projects,” said Tusk.
He called for better cooperation in order to better resist new challenges - illegal migration and terrorism.
“Speaking about BiH, there is a lot of good will on your part. We are ready to continue fulfilling our promises and to help you in your endeavors. And as friends, we have an obligation to tell you what concerns us, and one such issue is the electoral reform. The EU really wants this current standstill to be adequately resolved in the best interests of BiH,” Tusk told the media after the meeting.
Participants of the meeting also attended the signing of a financing agreement for the Corridor 5C (Zenica North and Mostar South) between BiH and the European Investment Bank, signed by Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH and Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH Vjekoslav Bevanda and representatives of the European Investment Bank, Head of Crediting Department for Slovenia, Croatia and the Western Balkans Matteo Rivellini and Head of Legal Affairs Department Massimo Novo.
It is expected to start with this project within the next six months, which will entail a construction of a new road in the Zenica-Doboj Canton.
It is a part of the Pan-European Corridor 5C which connects Hungary and eastern Croatia with BiH and the Adriatic Sea in the area of the Port of Ploče.
The completion of works is expected until the first half of 2021, and the total costs are estimated at EUR 101 million.
The second road section will be built in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and is also a part of the Pan-European Corridor 5C connecting Hungary and eastern Croatia with BiH and the Adriatic Sea in the area of the Port of Ploče.
The estimated total cost of the project is EUR 227 million.
The bigger loan of EUR 100m will finance the section of Corridor 5C to the south of Mostar: the construction of a new 21 km long tolled motorway, including a 2.6 km long twin tunnel and ancillary structures between Mostar South and Pocitelj in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The second project, financed with a EUR 50m loan, is Zenica North: the construction of a new 2.8 km long tolled motorway section, including a 2.4 km long twin tunnel and ancillary structures between Ponirak and Vraca in the center of the country.
The Corridor 5C motorway extends the EU-wide TEN-T network to neighboring countries.
The project is expected to facilitate trade, develop tourism, promote regional and national economic growth and ultimately contribute to economic and social cohesion in the region. The two projects will reduce travel times and congestion and improve road safety.
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(FENA) S. R.
