Being the region’s most significant stability, security and development factor, Serbia is ready to intensify cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency Chairman, Milorad Dodik, said after meeting with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday.

“People in Bosnia must understand that Serbia is the most significant stability, security and development factor in the region. It will also support all the projects suggested by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity,” Dodik said. “On behalf of Bosnia’s Presidency, I invited Mr Vucic to visit Bosnia and continue the talks whenever he finds the time.”

He said he informed the Serbian President about the situation in the country and Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels when the three Presidency members met with top EU officials during their first foreign visit after taking office, following the October general election.

“Not all levels of government are formed yet, and this is preventing Bosnia from sending a positive message to investors, and it is damaging the Republika Srpska (RS) entity where the government was formed just before the New Year’s Eve,” Dodik said.

“Since then, the RS adopted its 2019 Budget and all the relevant documents,” he noted.

Vucic said he got all the relevant information from Dodik and that Serbia does not plan on ending the cooperation is has with Bosnia but wants to improve it even further.

He added that Serbia also plans to build a bridge across the Sava river in the north of the country, which is a project worth more than € 100 million, “as a small gift to the people of the RS.”

“The trade between our two countries is at its peak, we’re nearing the € 2 billion mark, and I believe Serbia is Bosnia’s top foreign-trade partner,” Vucic noted.

“We are planning to begin construction works linking Bijeljina to the Belgrade-Zagreb highway, and then the RS will continue building the highway toward Doboj. We hope the FBiH will continue building the highway from Brcko to Tuzla,” he said.