MINISTER SAROVIC MET MR. GORAN SVILANOVIC

Minister Mirko Sarovic met today on the premises of the Ministry of Foreign trade and Economic Relations with Mr. Goran Svilanovc, Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities.

The meeting was organized to mark the opening of the first Aarhus center in Sarajevo. Mr. Svilanovic explained the role of the OSCE and the importance of the Aarhus center for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stressing that so far in the OSCE region 37 Aarhus centers have been opened in 11 countries.

Minister Sarovic and Mr.Svilanovic also discussed the need for further cooperation in the field of environmental protection and safety (i.e., ENVSEC Initiative) including, apart from the OSCE, the UNECE, REC, UNEP, UNDP, NATO, and other organizations. It was concluded that it is necessary to emphasize the issues of growing problems in the protection of the environment that may influence and affect the security in the region. The highlighted issues were also: energy, climate change and other environmental problems burdening the population in the countries of the region.

Minister Sarovic briefed Mr. Svilanovic on the activities and role of MoFTER in the field of environmental protection, stressing the need to develop further regional cooperation in this area, the need to work at preventing accidents such as floods, as well as the need to protect rivers from pollution caused by human activities. Sustainable management of the Drina river basin should be a priority, as well as cooperation and work in the Sava Commission, and further processes for efficient and environmentally acceptable energy production and consumption.

Together, they emphasized the need to further strengthen the cooperation in the field of raising public awareness and active involvement off all in the programs, processes and projects to protect the environment.