Economic Forum of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2019 was organized by School of Economics and Business in Sarajevo and The Institute of Economics and was held on February 25, 2019, in the Congress Hall of the Hotel Holiday.
The third Economic Forum of B&H was opened by the Chairman of the Presidency of B&H, Milorad Dodik, who especially emphasized the situation that B&H was in: „It is evident that B&H economy is not great but is exposed to new turmoil and past fails. Today, we are losing a significant number of young people who are leaving, and I think this is a strategy of the developed countries which are in search for new labour and education force. I think that it is time for our infrastructure and economy to start developing, regardless of the fact that this is not in line with the current trends.“
Dean of School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo, prof. dr. Jasmina Selimović, stated in her introductory speech that this sort of gathering has to have its focus on the following: „Between Sarajevo and Vienna, there is a 700-kilometre distance, between Banja Luka and Gratz, a half of that. However, an average student from Sarajevo or Banja Luka has six times lesser chances for finding a job and it takes him/her four times more time to do that in comparison to an average student from Austria. This is why we don’t have to ask ourselves why more than 33,000 young people decided to leave this country. This question today is of key significance as to why we are here.“
The program of the Forum consisted of three sessions; “Competitiveness of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the countries in the region“, moderated by prof. dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija, “Economic cooperation between Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina: Challenges and chances“, moderated by prof. dr. Kemal Kozarić, and “Enhancement of business environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and introductory note was held by prof. dr. Jasmin Hošo.
Economic Forum of B&H proved that a good platform gathers representatives of the academic community, national institutions, business community and international forces that are willing to participate in the processes of the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is what professor Lagumdžija spoke about: „Today, we are witnesses of the offer made by Jeffrey Sachs and the proposition that a proper regional centre for self-sustainable development goals in the Balkans is built in Sarajevo, and at the same time we had the Chairman of the Presidency of B&H who gave a positive reply. Today, we planted one beautiful plant, a developer of sustainable goals to spread from B&H to the region.“
Partners of the third Economic Forum of B&H were: Raiffeisen BANK dd Bosna i Hercegovina, European Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Širbegović Inženjering, The City of Sarajevo, Cement Factory Kakanj, Foreign Investors Council – FIC, MS & WOOD, Perutnina Ptuj, Al-Shiddi Group, Europlakat BH and Hotel Holiday Sarajevo. Exclusive media coverage: BHRT, RSG, Antena Sarajevo, Oslobođenje, www.radiosarajevo.ba and Business Magazine B&H.