A working lunch has been organized by the Swedish Ambassador Anders Hagelberg with Minister Mirko Šarović (Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations BiH), Minister Srebrenka Golić (Ministry of Civil Engineering, Physical Planning and Ecology, Republika Srpska), Minister Edita Ðapo (Ministry of Environment and Tourism, FBiH), Siniša Milić (Mayor of Brcko District), Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark (EUD/EUSR) and representatives from Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Embassy of Sweden in BiH. The aim is to promote initial activities related to supporting development of environmental policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
An open, fruitful and positive discussion took place where all participants expressed their willingness to cooperate and work towards a more strategic approach in the sector.
Within the current assignment, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is tasked to develop a detailed Project Document and Terms of Reference for longer-term project – the development of environmental policy in BIH. This project document will be the basis for Sweden’s decision on financing the project.
“I am happy that the Embassy of Sweden is able to support BIH in the initial steps of developing environmental policy, including state and entity levels, by engaging the knowledge and expertise of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). The environment sector represents 1/3 of the EU Acquis, therefore to develop BiH environmental policies is very important. I’m also happy to see Ministers’ commitment to the process which they have demonstrated today”– said Ambassador Hagelberg.
The Ministers acknowledged the need and importance of having environmental sectoral planning strategies and actions plans in place. They expressed genuine readiness to jointly work together on its development with the technical support from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Sweden.
