Investors will be able to get all the necessary information in one place (Photo: Shutterstock)
The Privatization Agency of Sarajevo Canton still has unfinished obligations and therefore cannot be shut down, and the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Economy has decided to try to ensure some kind of sustainability by adding competencies.
In addition to sustainability, their goal is to enable better communication of potential investors with the competent institutions through the Agency.
Therefore, the Draft Law on the Cantonal Agency for Attracting Foreign Investments and Privatization was passed, which added the promotion and attraction of investments to the competence of the Privatization Agency. Since the amendments to the law add competencies to the agency, it formally and legally changes its name.
One stop shop administrative units will also operate within the Agency, which is more than necessary for businesspersons and investors in the Sarajevo Canton. Let us remind you that One stop shop administrative units in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina have a small number of municipalities, but it is also a great way to help businesspersons and investors.
“We believe that this is more than necessary, if we take into account our extensive bureaucratic system, which unfortunately rejects potential investors in the canton. When someone asks me why not make a brochure that would be a guide for investors to start a business in Sarajevo, I say that we can do it if we want to drive them away, because if they knew what the procedures were, they would immediately give up. Therefore, they will have at their disposal One stop shop administrative units where they will receive all the necessary information and instructions in order to shorten the waiting processes at various institutions and speed up the process of starting a business. Also, the Agency will be a reliable and secure partner to potential domestic and foreign investors who will have less to worry about the security of their investment,” said Adnan Delić for Klix.ba, Minister of Economy of Sarajevo Canton.
The draft law on the Cantonal Agency for Attracting Investments and Privatization is in a public consultation that lasts 30 days, after which the commission is obliged to review the received proposals and analyze the possibilities of including proposals and possible amendments to the draft, and then send it to the Government and Assembly again.
“If the law passes the public consultation and all the necessary procedures and is adopted, then the Agency must be re-registered and then the internal structure of the Agency must be established. How long the process will last depends on all the mentioned procedures”, explained Delić.
Delić also announced the establishment of the first cantonal business-industrial zone and business incubator, and said that they have land owned by the Sarajevo Canton, which is ideal for the business-industrial zone and that they want to take advantage of these zones.
“Every investor will come sooner if the investor has a secured infrastructure, and business zones provide just that, and on more favorable terms. Basically, this means that we want to attract strategic branches of the economy to an area where businesspersons will have a secured infrastructure with accompanying facilities and on more favorable terms. When it comes to the business incubator, we had a plan to establish it last year, but due to the extensive scope of competencies and the large number of activities that marked 2021, we were not able to implement all the plans. By establishing a business incubator, we primarily want to support startup companies that are established with the incentives of the Ministry of Economy, to enable them to survive the first period after the establishment and then further growth, development and market positioning,” said Delić.
He adds that all businesspersons and investors who come to the Canton will benefit, and after that the citizens will also benefit, because in that way quality companies that want to do business in Sarajevo will be attracted.
“The number of business entities will grow, new and quality jobs will be created, business revenues will be paid to our budget and all this will affect the growth and development of the business environment in the Sarajevo Canton. In addition to improving the business environment, our goal is to attract companies that will employ people, but also produce additional value and generate overall growth and development of our economy,” concluded Delić.
