Delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina at ICPE

On Monday, 21 October 2013, HE Dr Zlatko Lagumdžija, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and delegation paid an official visit to ICPE.

ICPE ADG Mr Janez Podobnik welcomed HE Dr Zlatko Lagumdžija and delegation at the ICPE Headquarters, emphasizing good relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina as ICPE Member State since 1996. As an upgrade of a successful past cooperation ICPE took the initiative to establish a regional office in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. BIH has an excellent geostrategic position as well as valuable and rich cooperation with countries of Africa and Middle East. Minister Dr Zlatko Lagumdžija endorsed the initiative and expressed support.

Furthermore, Mr Janez Podobnik emphasized the possible topics for concrete future cooperation, including the preparation of a one-year Action plan for 2013-2014, cooperation on international events, namely, follow-up of the Economic Diplomacy and Internationalisation conference in Sarajevo; economic event in cooperation with German- Slovenian Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia and institution in BIH, etc.

HE Minister emphasized the role of ICPE as an interconnection point between BIH and EU as well as strongly supported the cooperation in different projects on the basis of the Action Plan.

After the meeting HE Dr Zlatko Lagumdžija, together with BIH high representatives, presented the Orthographic manual of the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language with grammar basics. The importance of the mother tongue was stressed, especially for emigrants as a connection in communication, in encouraging of the feeling of belonging and as an identity bridge.

The guests were welcomed by HE Slavko Puljić, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Republic of Slovenia and Mr Janez Podobnik, Acting Director General of ICPE.