Minister Košarac Organized A Meeting on Support to Local Businessmen Through Exports to New Markets

Today, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Staša Košarac, organized a working meeting on support and assistance to domestic economic capacities, with a focus on repairing the negative effects of the coronavirus epidemic and protecting domestic production.

 

The working meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republika Srpska Boris Pašalić, his advisor Zoran Maletić, assistant of Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management for Rural Development and Agricultural Advisory Services Nijaz Brković, Head of the Department for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management in Brčko District Perica Burgić and Director of the Veterinary Office of BiH Ljubomir Kalaba.

 

At the meeting it was discussed the suspension of vaccination against classical swine fever, which is a prerequisite for the continuation of pork exports to Northern Macedonia. The interlocutors agreed that the Veterinary Office of BiH will perform the marking, and inform the Macedonian party that Republika Srpska has completed its part of the work and that Brčko District will complete that process by May 1 this year. This will enable agricultural producers from Republika Srpska and Brčko District to export pork to the Macedonian market. When it comes to exports from the Federation of BiH, it was pointed out that the Veterinary Office of BiH, in coordination with the competent Federal Ministry, will resolve the issue of the emergency plan within the next 15 days, so that farmers from this entity can export pork to Northern Macedonia.

 

At the request of the competent entity ministries, the issue of vaccination of animals against brucellosis and missing doses of vaccines was discussed at today's working meeting. Minister Košarac said that in the coming period he would ask for assistance from the Swedish Embassy in BiH to provide the necessary 200,000 doses of brucellosis vaccines through the SIDA agency, since financial resources for that purpose are expected from the European Commission in the fourth quarter of this year.

 

In order to help domestic economic capacities, the problem of realized surpluses of production and their placement on the third countries markets was also discussed today. In that context, Minister Košarac announced that he would soon talk with the representatives of the EU Delegation to BiH about the possibility of BiH using the port of Ploče to export livestock to third country markets.

 

When it comes to the prospect of exporting to the EU and China markets, Minister Košarac was informed that the Republika Srpska has filled out a questionnaire for meat exports to EU member states and China, and that the Federation of BiH will take the same steps in the coming period. After the analysis of the questionnaires of both entities, it was agreed that the Veterinary Office of BiH will contact the European Commission and the Chinese party with requests to allow the export of meat from BiH. Minister Košarac said that he would inform the EU Delegation to BiH and the Chinese party about this issue, and ask for the possibility for the relevant institutions to give consent so that meat produced in the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH could be found on the EU and China markets.