 INVESTING ADVANTAGES |
As earlier said, Bosnian enterprises cannot make major improvements in these sectors without foreign investments. In order to attract them, Bosnian authorities have adopted numerous laws of which the most important is the Law on Foreign Investments, which secures favourable treatment of foreign investors and protects their interests. Foreign investors are equal with local investors in all economic sectors. In addition the rights given to foreign investors by this law cannot be abolished or eliminated by subsequently adopted laws. The only limit placed on foreign investment is in the areas of production and sale of arms, ammunition, military explosive materials, military equipment and public information. This law provides foreign investors with number of benefits:
- Exemption from customs duties on investments;
- Unlimited right to open and keep an account in all commercial banks in the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in domestic or any other foreign convertible currency;
- The right to free and undisturbed foreign transfer of all income realised by investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina in all convertible currencies;
- Equal property rights with all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Protection from nationalisation, expropriation, requisition, or measures with similar consequences;
- The right to employ foreign citizens in accordance with Bosnia and Herzegovina laws on labour and immigration.
| Bosnian government tries to provide information about its country's opportunities to all potential foreign investors. Embassies of this country all over the world are tasked with providing all interested partners with all information available. This has become one of the major criteria to assess an ambassador's success in a given country. Bosnia has established a Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, a governmental institution whose goal is to generate new investments and improve the image of the country among foreign investors. There are also an International Development Agency and an Investment Guarantee Agency, to provide guarantees for the protection from political risks of all short-and-medium-term commercial transactions between Bosnian and foreign companies, suppliers and banks.
Bosnia offers great opportunities, but of course great risks as well. Yet, as in every business the one who dares to take a risk could lose, but the one who does not dare to take a risk has already lost.
Streets of Sarajevo |
