The key reasons for why youth is leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina are economic and political instability, distrust in the institutions, inequality and institutional corruption, participants in a three-day conference tackling the issue concluded over the weekend.

The conference was organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Bosnia and Herzegovina in partnership with the multi-party youth ‘Group 9’ and was supported by the Institute for the Development of Youth KULT.

Guests were political leaders from Bosnia, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.

They concluded that social policies for youth, a better education system and more intensive cooperation with the diaspora are crucial for creating a better atmosphere for youth in the country.

The participants presented a draft which contains guidelines with concrete changes for the improvement of the quality of life for youth with they plan on forwarding to government representatives.

The conference took place between June 7 and 9 in the Swissotel Hotel in Sarajevo.

Guests were the Bosniak member of the country’s tripartite Presidency Sefik Dzaferovic, US Ambassador Eric Nelson, Croatian lawmaker Vesna Pusic and a number of other political representatives from Western Balkan countries.