Entity-level of the Republika Srpska (RS) and not the state-level of Bosnia and Herzegovina will decide on priorities and will implement the projects referring to the construction of Belgrade-Sarajevo highway, said RS Minister of Transport and Communications Nedjo Trninic.

Speaking about the letter of intent signed on Sunday by Bosnia's Minister of Transport and Communications Ismir Jusko and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Arslan, Trninic told Srna news agency that the Bosnia's level of authority does not have competences to implement this infrastructural project.

Turkey expressed readiness to financially support the highway construction, leaving it to Bosnia and Serbia to decide on the routes that would connect their two capitals. After the entity governments of the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) failed to agree on one of two routes that would connect Bosnia with Serbia's part of the highway, Turkey said it would finance both.

Namely, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic in January this year, reaffirming Turkey's willingness to fund both selected routes.

Trninic, however, deems that the letter of intent signed on Sunday has no importance for the RS.

“The letter of intent has no importance before an agreement with the RS is reached. The Federation is free to start with the implementation of projects, but nobody can make decisions on the RS,” he stressed.

The minister reiterated there had to be agreement on everything in Bosnia, including the infrastructure construction.

The letter of intent that Bosnian and Turkish ministers signed on Sunday is aimed at strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in sectors of transport and infrastructure, encouraging of the investments in transport infrastructure in the Western Balkans.