FIPA at the conference "Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the service of economic development and growth", February 14-16, Banja Luka

The Conference "Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the service of economic development and growth" was organized in Banja Luka by Swedish Foundation Jarl Hjalmarson. Among representatives of the Foundation and experts, the conference was attended by Mladen Ivanić, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Gordan Milinić, Director of FIPA.

The FIPA Director Gordan Milinić spoke about the role and activities of the Agency on promotion of the tourism sector potentials of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and stated that using the financial support of certain foreign institutions, such as USAID, World Bank, OECD, grants funds of the governments of certain countries, etc., FIPA succeeded to do the appropriate promotional materials, as were the studies of individual sectors, as well as film clips such as "Enjoy Business" and "Enjoy Life". FIPA also succeeded to promote BiH through various marketing campaigns in the international print and electronic media, like as Financial Times, CNN, etc.

He also pointed out that in a similar manner, in cooperation and with the financial support of the World Bank, within the Project of the World Bank / IFC / Invest in the Western Balkans, promotional workshops on investment opportunities in the tourism sector were realized in several foreign countries.

In addition, FIPA attends numerous conferences, workshops, conferences etc. organized and financially supported by the OECD, WAIPA, the World Bank, etc, at which BiH is promoted in various forms.

At the conference it was pointed out that the tourism sector in BiH has great potential for development, it possesses all the prerequisites to play an important role in economic development and that for this reason, the development of tourism has been recognized as one of the top priorities of the overall national economic development policies.

The most promising branches of the BiH tourism are: winter and mountain tourism, ecotourism, spa tourism, cultural and religious tourism, sports and adventure tourism and sea tourism.

Jens Ahl, Deputy Director of the Foundation Jarl Hjalmarson, thanked the Director of FIPA on participation and promised the help of experts of the Foundation to attract foreign investments in BiH.