The Western Balkans Investment Framework approved a grant of €96.8 million for Bosnia to construct a part of the pan-European highway that is crossing the country, said Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic on Friday at the Summit of Western Balkan Leaders in Poznan, Poland (WB6+EU8).
The money will go toward the construction of three sections that will connect the northern town of Vukosavlje with the central city of Zenica. All three are worth a total of €433.39 million.
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Apart from this infrastructure project, participants discussed the region’s problems and perspectives.
Membership in the EU remains has no alternative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region and the perspective of membership is an incentive for all social, bureaucratic and economic reform processes, said Zvizdic.
He also noted that the full integration of the Western Balkans is in the interest of Europe and that it is necessary to keep up the wave of expansion based on regional cooperation, good neighbourly relations and on the principle of merit.
Zvizdic noted that although regional countries are in different phases of reforms and development, none of their developments are on par with European standards.
Western Balkan countries should join their efforts to overcome their tensions and provide citizens with a better living standard, better social protection and healthcare, better education and a more just distribution of public goods, or else they will face social and political instability, he added.
He also stressed that a common market is much more attractive to foreign investors and called for increasing connectivity within the region and with the EU.
Bosnia applied with the most investment projects and received most of the grants within the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) in 2019 – a total of €118 million, Zvizdic said.
Until now, the WBIH has supported 25 projects with about €3,3 billion, the Prime Minister said.
He said it is vital that all regional countries implement measures stated in the Multi-annual Action Plan on a Regional Economic Area (MAP REA), which he argued would make their economies more attractive to investors and accelerate their economic growth, preparing them for becoming EU members.
“With a deeper economic integration we send a clear political message, which shows that the deepening of mutual cooperation and the overcoming of open problems is in the common interest of all of us,” he said.
He also stressed that the digital transformation of the society and economy should be a priority for regional countries.
“The region must use the possibilities digitalisation offers and become a more desirable place for doing business and for new investments, but also so that digitally equipped, enabled and interconnected companies in the region could place themselves on the international market as best as possible,” Zvizdic said.
