Members of the Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Interparliamentary Union (IPU) spoke with the Delegation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the IPU

Members of the Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Interparliamentary Union (IPU), Chairman Nenad Lalić and his deputies, Predrag Kožul and Salko Sokolović, spoke today with the Delegation that represents the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the IPU (UK).

Emphasizing that Bosnia and Herzegovina correctly recognizes the support and action of the United Kingdom aimed at advancement of our country and adoption of European standards, members of the PABiH Delegation thanked once again today for wholehearted British support to repair the catastrophic damage after the floods in 2014. Furthermore, gratitude was also expressed for the agenda that the UK had initiated together with Germany, and which was aimed at acceleration of economic flows in our country, after which, as it was said, economic activities were actively revived in order to meet the conditions necessary for bringing BiH closer to the European Union.

The guests, who will stay in our country for five days, are especially interested in the current situation in terms of the B&H economy and in areas where two friendly countries could cooperate more intensively. As the Head of the British Delegation, Nigel Evans, pointed out at the meeting, the United Kingdom will, once it definitely leaves the European Union, start establishing independent economic relations with many countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it is necessary to convey a message to British businessmen about the areas in which cooperation could be considerably more intense than before. Agriculture, light metals and heavy industry, as well as wood industry and energy were particularly selected today as potentially attractive areas. In terms of tourism, Messrs. Lalić, Kožul and Sokolović emphasised that efforts should be made to get a different type of visa regime as a prerequisite for significant cooperation in the area of tourism because, as the guests pointed out today, our country is among those in which the British tourists are quite interested.

Members of the British Delegation to the IPU were also interested in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, both plenary sessions and the work of parliamentary committees, and on this occasion they urged for establishment of a much more intensive bilateral ties between the UK and BiH parliaments as well as the cooperation of parliamentary working bodies.

During a several-day visit, the United Kingdom’s Delegation to the IPU will meet with a number of officials both at state and at all other levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (End)