FIPA and FIC successfully organized a discussion on investments in BiH: "Why (not) invest in Bosnia and Herzegovina?"

The Foreign Investment Promotion Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FIPA) and the Council of Foreign Investors of BiH (FIC) successfully organized a public discussion yesterday under the title "Why (not) invest in Bosnia and Herzegovina?", bringing together representatives of the economic sector, decision makers, the international community, and domestic and foreign investors. 

The discussion focused on the key challenges facing investors, including legal uncertainty, a complex regulatory framework, the lack of skilled labour, and the green transition. They discussed the revision of environmental permits, harmonization of regulations within BiH, EU regulations. Special emphasis was put on the need to intensify the public-private dialogue in order to ensure favourable conditions for foreign investments and further improve the investment climate in the country.

Marko Kubatlija, Director of FIPA, emphasized on this occasion that the Agency will continue to actively deal with solving all barriers and administrative problems faced by investors and all those who invest in this country. He called on investors to continue investing their capital in BiH, because according to official data, 80 percent of investors who invest in this country, return to reinvest. "We have opportunities to offer and from today's meeting we want to send a clear message and involve the competent institutions in the process of speeding up judicial and administrative procedures" - stressed Kubatlija.

Sanja Miovčić, director of FIC, also addressed the audience, emphasizing that the members of the Council of Foreign Investors are the eyes and ears of this country on the ground. They have first-hand information about how the business environment works in practice, what are the positive aspects and what are the problems, and to what extent and in what way the legislation is applied. This information is extremely important for all decision makers in Bosnia and Herzegovina because the economy's perception of the progress of reforms in various areas is crucial, especially considering the complexity and fragmentation of our system.

The Council of Foreign Investors of Bosnia and Herzegovina and FIPA expressed their satisfaction with the success of the event, stressing that they will continue to work on creating a better investment climate in Bosnia and Herzegovina and further encouraging productive dialogue with individual ministries regarding some of the most important laws, as well as strengthening cooperation between the public and private sectors.

The conclusion of the discussion was that investments are the key driver of the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that it is necessary to improve the legal and regulatory framework in order to create conditions for long-term and sustainable investments, and certainly to intensify the dialogue with government representatives.