 THE PRESENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY |
The war in Bosnia ended with the Dayton Peace Agreement, which was negotiated by the representatives of the parties that were involved in the 1992-1995-conflict settlement in Dayton, Ohio, in November 1995. On November 21, the parties successfully concluded the negotiations, and on December 14, they signed the Dayton Peace Agreement in Paris.
The Peace Agreement established Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state comprising two Entities, each with a high degree of autonomy: the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation. The agreement established a significant international presence in Bosnia as well. There are numerous foreign agencies operating in Bosnia of which the most important nowadays are the Stabilization Force (made of military forces coming from different nations under the command of the NATO alliance, which is in charge of preserving peace in the country) and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) www.ohr.int, the key civilian agency designed to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the Peace Agreement on behalf of the international community. The OHR is also tasked with co-ordinating the activities of the civilian organisations and agencies operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The OHR has the final authority to interpret and concretise the agreement in regards to the civilian implementation of the peace settlement. The High Representative has no authority over the NATO-led military Stabilization Force.
The OHR's role in Bosnia and Herzegovina's development has increased with time. The OHR officials preside many joint bodies that bring together representatives of the different political parties who still cannot always reach alone agreements in many areas. The State and Entity Institutions as mentioned by the Dayton agreement have been constituted after the war. Yet it took some time before they started meeting on a regular basis. Now, one of the OHR's main tasks is to ensure that the institutions function effectively and in a responsible manner.
The OHR has authority to remove public officials, who violate legal commitments and the Dayton Peace Agreement, and to impose and enforce laws as considered fitting if Bosnia and Herzegovina's legislative bodies fail to do so.
Nonetheless, the governing principle of the OHR's engagement in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the concept of ownership. This concept calls on the officials and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement the peace process and to face the problems that their country encounters, and not to rely on the international community as they have done so far, both in terms of financial assistance as well as regarding political interventions.
The OHR is focusing its efforts on three priority areas: the effective functioning of the institutions as a modern state - in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina's State Institutions - economic reforms, and refugees' return. Other important issues are judicial and legal reforms; protection of the human rights; reforms of the education system; media reforms - in particular the establishment of independent public service broadcasting-; and Bosnia and Herzegovina's integration to the European Union.
In accordance with the peace agreement, Bosnia is divided into two entities: Federation of Bosnia, which comprises 51% of the territory and where predominantly Bosnians and Croats live; and Republika Srpska, which covers 49% of the territory and where the Serb population is predominant. Yet, citizens of all nationalities in both entities have equal rights. Entities have significant autonomies - they have their own governments, parliaments and presidencies. However, at the state level there are shared institutions that represent the county in international political and economic relations. Both main state institutions are the three-member Presidency of Bosnia, and the Council of Ministers, which is basically the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the state institutions are still suffering from some gridlock factors on the part of the nationalistic and separatist parties, and these could probably not function without the help of the international agencies present in Bosnia. Nonetheless, thanks to that help, significant political and economic campaigns have been launched and have produced impressive results.
| 
As Mariann KURTZ from SEED points out, "The good news for Bosnia is, as most of the countries in the region, they have an extremely skilled work force. They have a highly educated population. Some of them are leaders in the world in some areas… Bosnians have a very good reputation regarding their engineering skills, project management skills and processing skills. If one wants to bring a factory here or any kind of production line, I think he would not only find a very capable work force but also a willing one. There are people who are really anxious to return to a normal life, productive business life. There is a lot of demand here by the local population to get back on its feet and not to depend on the International Community as the only employer.
Another big area we are going to focus on next year is entrepreneurship. We need to change the image of the entrepreneurship and show that it is a valuable contributor to the economy and that it is no longer needed to be associated with the negative side of business. We are trying to create a program that would attract also doctors, engineers and others who think that they do not necessarily need to know something about entrepreneurship and give them a safe environment, to develop some of their skills, to raise the awareness about entrepreneurial culture.
Here in Bosnia our team has worked extremely closely with the World Bank team who is developing the newest credit to this country. This is a business environment adjustment credit focused specifically on improving conditions for business in BiH.
Our job is to bring a quality value relationship between SMEs and local providers. In former communist economies, those relationships did not exist as the role of professional consultants did not exist. Part of what we are trying to do with the capacity building is to identify who those professionals are, i.e. local consultants, local trainers, business associations, chambers of commerce, who are the traditional providers of services and advice to SMEs." |
