prijava
SARAJEVO, September 10 (FENA) - Several non-governmental organizations from the countries of the region comprised an analysis of the "Impact of the Stabilization and Association Agreement and CEFTA2006 on the European Integration Process of the WB6 countries and on Regional Cooperation: Achievements and the Way Forward", containing a number of recommendations for the countries of the Western Balkans, which was presented today in Sarajevo.
As the representatives of the Foreign Policy Initiative of BiH, the organization that took part in the analysis, reminded today that the EU has created a Stabilization and Association Agreement for countries that are striving for membership, and although the countries of the Balkans have been part of the stabilization and association process for nearly 19 years, during that period, only the Republic of Croatia became a member of the EU.
The countries of the Western Balkans believe that they must jointly economically strengthen themselves in order to deal with the market forces in the EU, and CEFTA is one way to prepare for this, as it strengthens economic regional cooperation and helps stabilization and association process.
Director of the Foreign Policy Initiative, Lejla Ramić Mesihović underlined that the report consists of two parts on 460 pages, and the first part refers to the analysis of the effects of the SAA for Macedonia, Albania and Serbia, while the other part provides an analysis of the effects of CEFTA on all six countries.
“There are a number of recommendations after each chapter, but we also made generic recommendations that refer to the entire region with a focus on CEFTA. Speaking of BiH, it has big macroeconomic challenges that limit the effects of CEFTA implementation,” she added.
She emphasized that BiH has many non-tariff barriers, but so does everyone in the region, but they should be clearly identified and eliminated, and stressed that the challenge for BiH still lies in the difficult political context within which its economy struggles, as well as a drop in foreign direct investment and a trade deficit that BiH is continually tackling.
President of the Assembly of the Foreign Policy Initiative of BiH Davor Vuletić explained that in the process of joining, the stabilization of the work of institutions that provide the legal framework for the functioning of the economy is of great importance, but this was not the same for BiH as it was in other countries, and there was a problem of focusing on the economic segment and putting aside political problems.
He also mentioned that the political situation in BiH represents a big challenge, and although other countries in the region have had turbulent times in terms of political situation, they also had a common period of stabilization, while there was a continuous process of political destabilization in BiH that affected the work of institutions and the establishment of a legal framework for better functioning of BiH within CEFTA.
Some of the recommendations from the report are political stabilization, the adoption of European Union standards, improvements in phytosanitary protection, enhanced inspection of goods and markets aimed at foreign trade, since the occurrence of problems with the export of apples or meat products negative affect BiH's trade reputation.
The report is intended for decision-makers and persons working within institutions to focus on things that they have not noticed so far, but how much of it will be implemented depends solely on the decision makers, say the representatives of the Foreign Policy Initiative of BiH.
The BiH Foreign Policy Initiative drafted this report in partnership with the European Movement in Serbia, the Albanian Institute for International Studies, the Institute for European Policies in Skopje, the European Movement in Montenegro and the Riinvest Institute for Development Research from Kosovo, under the auspices of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Belgrade.
(FENA) S. R.
