FIPA Activities

FIPA Director participated at the Balkans SME CONFERENCE - SOFIA 2016

6/23/2016

As part of the Balkans Conference on SMEs held in Sofia on 23 June 2016, the FIPA Director Mr Gordan Milinić presented potentials for investing in tourism sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Balkans Conference on SMEs brought together representatives of companies from all over Europe, municipalities and government institutions of the Balkans countries, and represented an excellent opportunity for presenting investment opportunities. Interested potential investors had the opportunity to hear information about the business environment and investment projects, and meet with the comparative advantages of the Balkans countries.

The Director of FIPA informed on that occasion the companies’ representatives on advantages for investing that Bosnia and Herzegovina offers to investors and on available projects in the tourism sector, winter and mountain, health and spa, eco and adventure, marine, cultural and religious tourism, as well as on projects for building hotels in BiH.

Mr Milinić said that the tourism is an industry branch which is progressing, that BH is known for its natural beauties, winter sports, cultural heritage, architecture, gastronomy, and that in 2015 "Lonely Planet" ranked BiH at the 5th place of countries to visit. According to the World Tourism Organization, Bosnia and Herzegovina is defined as one of the only three tourist destinations in the world with the overall growth potential of the tourism market at the rate of more than 10% per year by 2020.

The tourism sector has a huge potential for development and all prerequisites to play an important role in the economy of the country. Bosnia and Herzegovina constantly increased the number of tourists and tourism revenues.

Mr Milinić invited the audience to visit the FIPA, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and to see by yourself all possibilities for making profit in BiH and to hear positive experiences of existing foreign investors.

FIPA will provide all interested investors with full support in all phases of investment, starting from initial information about the projects, organization of meetings with relevant institutions, providing legal advice, as well as support after the investment implementation through the Aftercare Program.

Within the visit to Sofia, the Director Milinić also had a series of meetings with potential investors, both from Bulgaria and other countries participating in the conference. Investors have shown great interest not only for projects in the tourism sector, but also in other sectors such as energy, wood-processing, metal-processing and food production.

During all meetings in Bulgaria, the FIPA Director had the full support of the BiH Embassy in Sofia and the Ambassador H.E. Mr Radomir Bogdanović.

 

Testimonials & Success Stories
 

Global Investment Promotion Best Practices 2012 of the World Bank has cited one example of support that FIPA provides to foreign investors who are running business in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to contribute to increase the flow of foreign capital in the country.

The article said:  

„The Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina was an early convert to the idea of providing facilitation services to agribusiness investors as a way to maximize the positive impact of agriculture on the economy.

In 2007, for example, FIPA assisted a Dutch food processing company establish a US$1.6 million production facility to process unused milk ingredients into value-added products in Sarajevo to sell to markets in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

As part of its aftercare program, FIPA assisted the company with its expansion plans. Among other things, the agency helped facilitate veterinary permissions, navigate various bureaucratic hurdles and played an important role in securing funding for the company’s expansion. It also helped develop a network of local suppliers and customers. As a result of these efforts, the Dutch investor developed stronger links with the Bosnian economy, thus increasing the positive spillover effects on the local economy.

Currently a new investment to establish a drying facility for milk powder is under way. This will further expand the processing facilities of unused milk ingredients. This additional planned investment is worth approximately US$2.8 million, thus nearly trebling the company’s original investment in the country“.

 

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