International Trade Relations

Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully committed to building a liberal economy based on market principles and freedom of movement of people, capital, goods and services. In the field of international trade relations, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina's trade relations with the rest of the world, this implies full commitment of Bosnia and Herzegovina to integrate its economy into an international multilateral trading system established within the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the construction of its trade legislation, on the rules and principles on which this organization is based.

The inclusion of BiH into the world's multilateral trading system through the acquisition of full membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a very complex process that requires multi-year negotiations with the adoption of a number of new regulations, the establishment of new institutions and the implementation of numerous reforms, which de jure and de facto means removal all non-tariff barriers in trade and non-customs measures for the protection of domestic industry, reduction of customs protection, liberalization of trade in services, ensuring equal treatment for domestic and foreign goods, as well as for domestic and foreign service providers.

In parallel with the process of the globalization of world trade as a form of integration process that takes place on a general, global scale, since the last decade of the last century in international trade relations, numerous regional integration processes have been launched. It is primarily about free trade agreements established in different parts of the world, which in the narrower geographical area imply further liberalization of trade, i.e. the establishment of free trade zones, such as NAFTA, MERKOSUR, ASEAN, Eurasian Economic Union, etc. In this regard, within the framework of the regional integration process in Europe, the deepest degree of economic integration has been reached, which besides the establishment of a free trade zone, implies a unique internal market with full freedom of movement of capital, goods, services and labor, and a common foreign trade policy towards third countries.

In accordance with the general commitment, Bosnia and Herzegovina is involved in all regional integration processes in Europe. This is primarily the Stabilization and Association Process with the European Union (SAP), within which the SAA was concluded, which in its first phase should lead to the establishment of free trade between the two sides. In the long term, this process involves full transposition of the EU acquis into domestic legislation and full EU membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the meantime, until the end of the EU accession process, Bosnia and Herzegovina is included within the CEFTA Agreement in the free trade zone with other Western Balkan countries, which are also part of the stabilization and association process with the EU. The aim of the CEFTA agreement is further liberalization of trade in this region, the complete abolition of all barriers in trade and joint preparation of members for accession to the European Union. In addition, all CEFTA members of the Agreement, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, have signed free trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which ultimately should lead to the full involvement of the CEFTA region and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the single "European Economic Area" (EEA).

In addition to the aforementioned integration processes in the field of trade, Bosnia and Herzegovina is committed to the activities of developing trade relations on a bilateral level, which implies strengthening of trade with countries around the world, deepening of economic trade cooperation, mutual improvement and protection of investments, as well as further liberalization of the market through preferential agreements with countries not included in the integration processes mentioned above.

The previous text gives a framework defining the foreign trade policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e. trade relations with the rest of the world. Accordingly, the Strategic Objective of the International Trade Relations Sector can be defined as "continuous improvement of international trade relations and trade cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries on a bilateral, regional and multilateral level". The realization of the set strategic goal is realized through the realization of the set operational goals, which represent the activities of four Departments within the Sector:

◾Department for bilateral trade relations;

◾Department for Multilateral Trade Relations;

◾Department for Trade Relations with European Integration;

◾Department for Statistics and Analysis of Foreign Trade.