Sarajevo will host the annual European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Meeting and Business Forum this week and according to economic experts, the event will draw the business world’s attention to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“This is a great opportunity for foreign investors to see the country, to see the potential which the country offers as an investment destination,” said EBRD Director Ian Brown.
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Some 2,200 investors are expected to attend the event which is expected to increase Bosnia’s visibility in the business world, and according to Brown, some 170 foreign journalists have registered to cover it.
Brown reiterated earlier statements by Bosnia’s Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister, Mirko Sarovic, who said the conference will also send out a message that the Western Balkans is a safe place for investing.
“What investors are looking for is predictability and stability, especially political stability,” he said.
“We at the EBRD truly see that the entire Western Balkan region is progressing and we think that the improvement of relations between the countries is very important so that in the end all countries benefit from foreign investments,” he added.
According to economy professor Anto Domazet, the EBRD conference should put Sarajevo and Bosnia “at the centre of the attention of the worlds and Europe’s business and general public.”
“It is a good opportunity for promoting good things in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he told N1 on Monday.
Bosnia became an EBRD member in 1995, said Domazet, who was the Finance Minister at the time, and today EBRD investments in the country amount to 2,3 billion Euro.
“We currently have about 68 active projects which are worth about a billion and 50 million Euro,” he said, but added that “a large part of this is not being used.”
“We spend a lot of time solving problems when they arise. Some countries solve that problem in three months, we do it in three years. In the World Economic Forum, they treat us as the most-democratic process of decision making – everyone is asked,” he said.
