ZENICA, March 14 (FENA) - British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Matthew Field said he was pleased with the progress made in the City of Zenica within the Business Enhancement and Investment Attractiveness at Local Level Project (LIFE), whose results were presented today.
“I want to thank the Mayor Kasumović and his team for their effort. This is certainly a good start, but much more needs to be done. If we all work together, I'm sure we will be successful,” said Ambassador Field.
He stated that the United Kingdom, in cooperation with the World Bank (IRC), is working to improve the business environment in BiH.
“This is indispensable requirement because every foreign investor will first see that BiH is 183rd out of a total of 190 countries in the world, when looking at the segment of registration of new companies; it is at the 167th place in the field of issuing construction permits; at the 130th place in connecting to the energy network ... This results in limited growth, while foreign investors are going elsewhere,” Ambassador Field pointed out.
He points out that the project value of more than 10 million GBP in three years is a very concrete indicator of their commitment to strengthening the private sector and creating new jobs.
Zenica Mayor Fuad Kasumović said that the City of Zenica this year scrapped the fee for acquiring municipal-urban land, which has resulted in about three million KM less in the budget, but they accepted all proposals in order to make it easier for investors to come in this city.
“This way, we have further reduced the revenue side of the budget, but indirectly, we will increase the budget," Kasumović said.
(FENA) S. R.