Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations at the Council of Ministers, Staša Košarac, thinks it is necessary to talk with partners from the countries of the region and implement the international obligations signed by BiH, but to preserve the domestic producers.
– In this context, we had to have a very clear policy of protecting domestic producers. It is important for the Entities to enable our producers to export goods, of course, to counter the import lobbies present in BiH and to try to find a balance within the set standards of the Stabilization and Association Agreement and CEFTA and to ensure that our products are exported to the countries of the environment and the EU said Košarac.
When it comes to taking over BiH’s CEFTA chairmanship, Košarac considers it very important that BiH has the fitness to keep agreements and important documents that it has signed by participating in associations.
– CEFTA is an important goal for us to be very active and visible in this domain. This would give one a kind of momentum for the development of domestic production as these customs barriers have been significantly reduced with CEFTA members. BiH takes over the presidency from Albania. We have one kind of priority. These are certain additions to some protocols – Košarac told Sarajevo-based “Dnevni Avaz”.
He added that he would talk about it at the plenary part of the meeting at the CEFTA Secretariat in Brussels, where he is on a three-day visit.
The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations at the Council of Ministers believes that the “top sectors” should be defined with the BiH business community.
– We have a surplus of electricity produced that needs to be sold. We see strong momentum in the dedicated industry. We have a chance through agricultural production. Significant quantities of fruits and vegetables are exported to the Russian Federation. There is a lot of interest from Chinese partners for certain products from BiH – Košarac said.
He believes that the coordinating role of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations with entity governments in the previous period was not adequate.
– There was a period in which this ministry wanted to make a body superior to the entity ministries, which is completely unacceptable for me, but also colleagues in the entity governments, – said Košarac.
He added that he did not want to deal with any populist measures but that, first of all, from the point of view of constitutional competencies and defined models of cooperation with entity institutions, he wanted to develop policies that are necessary for BiH citizens.
Speaking about the appointment of Mladen Božović as Minister for Human Rights and Refugees in the Council of Ministers, Košarac stressed the need to stop conditionality policies.
– I think it is very important to affirm the documents signed by our leaders.
The Partnership Statement of the three key leaders is a domestic product based on election results. It is very important that we do not challenge each other’s election results and respect the will of both Bosniaks and Serbs and Croats – he said.
Košarac added that, from that point of view, one position in the Council of Ministers belonged to the Republic of Srpska from the others.
– Božović is a Montenegrin, he passed all checks of the institutions of BiH – the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations said.
TST
