Bosnia Urged to Foster Private Sector and Curb Graft

Bosnia needs to further develop its private sector, cut the public sector and fight pervasive corruption if it wants to increase its prosperity in future, experts say.

Increasing the private sector's share in the economy is of primary interest for Bosnia, Ian Brown, the Head of Office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Bosnia, EBRD, told BIRN on Monday.

Brown noted that a general climate of mistrust surrounds the private sector in Bosnia, downplaying its further development.

"There is still a general mistrust in Bosnia towards entrepreneurs and the private sector in general," Brown maintained.

"This is mainly connected to some examples of failed privatisations of Bosnian public companies that were made in the past," Brown explained, adding that, "for many persons, and especially for those who were born during socialist Yugoslavia, a state-run economy still represents the best option".

Brown was among several top international officials who participated on Monday in the start of a two-day conference organised by the America Bosnia Foundation, the Center for Transatlantic Relations and the Johns Hopkins University in the Bosnian capital.

The conference, "Focus on Reforms: A Vision 2020 for BiH," centred on the reform agenda and the integration of Bosnia into the EU, and was attended by international officials and local politicians, including the Prime Ministers of both of Bosnia's entities, the High Representative Valentin Inzko, the Head of the EU Delegation in Bosnia, Lars Gunnar Wigemark, Tatiana Proskuryakova, country manager of the World Bank, and the country chairman of the Board of Directors of Transparency International, Srdjan Blagovcanin.

Experts highlighted that one of the priorities for...