Today in Sarajevo the Report was presented on aftercare activities of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina – FIPA BiH for 2016, and a regular annual meeting was held of the Cooperative Network in BiH.
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Namely, since 2013,
within the framework of the Investors’ Aftercare Programme, the Cooperative
Network has been established as the mechanism for cooperation between
institutions at all the levels of government in BiH that are contributing to
faster overcoming of obstacles in the course of realization of investment
projects, and are, in that manner, actively contributing to improvements in the
business environment within the framework of their competencies. Taking into
account that the activities of the Cooperative Network are focused on the
resolution of administrative challenges that the investors are facing, the
Agency is, together with the representatives of units of local self-governance,
entity, and state institutions, members of the Network, visiting investors
active in BiH and performing structured discussions with them with the
objective of collecting information and identification of administrative
barriers for investment. Information collected in the field are being analyzed
by FIPA BIH and then delegated to state, entity, and local authorities for
deliberation, and their resolution is proposed in recommendations.
The Aftercare Program
represents the first comprehensive activity with the objective of providing
incentives to existing investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina for easier
reinvestment and improvement of connections with the local economy. The
Cooperative Network today has 55 members, and since 2013, to this day, 356
companies have been visited through the network, and the total of 690 open
issues have been identified, of which 149 (22%) have been resolved
successfully, 249 (36%) are in the process of being resolved, while the
resolution of 292 (42%) issues require amendments of laws and regulations, or
systemic reforms. Those issues are being delegated to the competent authorities
through proposals and recommendations for improvements in the business
environment and conditions for investing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which
represent an integral part of the presented Report. By advocating and actively
participating in the resolution of the open issues, the Cooperative Network
has, to this day, assisted 26 companies in overcoming administrative obstacles
and successfully reinvesting BAM 75.7 million throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to the
presented report for 2016, which the BiH Council of Ministers adopted in
September of 2017, the Agency has, independently, or within the framework of
the Cooperative Network, performed 55 visits to investors that have, thus far,
invested EUR 432.4 million and employed 4,963 Bosnian and Herzegovinian
workers, of which 3,299 newly employed. The Analysis of results has shown that
more than a half of the total number of visited companies were interested in
expansion and improvement of their operations, and that they would have invested
additional EUR 407.3 million, and employed 1,795 new workers, if administrative
barriers they were facing in their operations were removed. That is the very
reason why it is of key significance that all the levels of government in BiH
recognize the significance of activities that are being implemented through the
Cooperative Network, and get involved in its work and provide maximum support
in the resolution of the open issues that stand in the way of realization of
those investment plans.
The International
Finance Corporation IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is, in cooperation
with the Embassy of United Kingdom, and through the Project for attracting
investments and improvement of business environment at the local level “LIFE”
and Project for Improvement of Business Climate and Access to Markets “ICAM”,
supporting the work and providing technical support to the Investors’ Aftercare
Programme in BiH and realization of activities of the Cooperative Network in
BiH.