Successfully completed the 1st Meeting of the Global Business Executive Retreat 2021 - Recommendations for the recovery of tourism and better attraction of foreign investors were given

The 1st Conference of Global Business Executive Retreat 2021, held from 1 to 4 July on Jahorina, organized by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency of BiH and the Council of Foreign Investors in BiH (FIC), and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been successfully completed. 

During the three days, the conference was attended by hundreds of participants from different parts of the world, as well as more than thirty panellists and keynote speakers, who covered the topic of free zone, innovation and entrepreneurship, digitalization and tourism today through interesting panels.

On the first day of the conference, a panel discussion was held related to the establishment of free zones in Bosnia and Herzegovina according to the model of the most famous free zones in the world and the region.

In addition to the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Staša Košarac, this panel was attended by the President of the Foreign Investors Council, Branimir Muidža, and two keynote speakers, Zoë Harries, Senior Advisor for Foreign Direct Investment and Special Economic Zones and Project Director.

Free Zone of Dubai (HIF), Harries is an expert on zone competitiveness and business modelling and heads the World HIF Advisory Department and supports governments, special economic zones and business parks in attracting foreign investment.

The second keynote speaker was Vladan Stojanović, a project associate at the Pirot Free Zone in Serbia, which is considered one of the most successful and largest free zones in the Western Balkans region.

During the participation in the panel, Minister Košarac stated that one of the ways in which the state could attract foreign investors is the creation of more free zones and that investors must not be alone and that the BiH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations will be a service and help in order to help investors to solve their problems.

Branimir Muidža, President of the Council of Foreign Investors, stressed that BiH must turn to attracting foreign investment because there is interest in investing in our country and that the key message is that no serious investor has lost their capital doing business in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In addition to the above, Mahir Selimović, Ddirector of the HOLC Free Zone from Puvačić, as well as Mirko Ćurić, Mayor of Trebinje, also participated at the conference.

Speaking about tourism and its recovery, all participants agreed that Bosnia and Herzegovina, if it wants to overcome the crisis faced by the tourism sector during the coronavirus pandemic and return to the results of 2019, must adopt strategies that will focus on joint presentation and creation of a joint tourist offer of both entities.