Foreign Operations Assistance: Bosnia and Herzegovina

United States Department of State
Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia
Foreign Operations Assistance Fact Sheet, April 2012*

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

United States Government (USG) assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) aims to fully anchor the country in European and Euro-Atlantic institutions, strengthen multi-ethnic democratic institutions and civil society, support strong State-level judiciary and law enforcement sectors, and increase prosperity and attractiveness to foreign investors. Over the past year, U.S. efforts faced substantial challenges from ethnically-charged political gridlock that prevented the formation of a fully-functioning State-level Council of Ministers until early 2012.

Recent Successes by Areas of Focus:

Peace & Security

• Provided training and equipment to Bosnian military units, in particular for one of BiH's Explosive Ordinance Detection (EOD) Platoons, which the AFBiH is building as a niche capability for future contributions to NATO.
• Facilitated passage of an asset forfeiture law in the Republika Srpska, resulting in the seizure of approximately $17 million in illegal assets from alleged organized crime figures.
• Worked with the border police to implement a database that simultaneously checks multiple databases for outstanding arrest warrants; resulting in a more than 20percent increase detecting persons illegally crossing the border.
• Facilitated formation of the new Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), led by the state prosecutor’s office, and which includes representatives from state, entity and municipal law enforcement agencies.

Governing Justly and Democratically

• BY ACCOUNT	FY 2011 ACTUAL	FY 2012 ESTIMATE	FY 2013 REQUEST
  TOTAL ($000s)	$48,727	$49,750	$45,541
  Assistance for Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia	$42,000	$39,000	0
  Economic Support Fund	0	0	$28,556
  Foreign Military Financing	$4,491	$4,500	$4,500
  International Military Education and Training	$986	$1,000	$1,000
  International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement	0	0	$6,735
  Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related Programs	$1,250	$5,250	$4,750

  Continued robust support to civil society and increased support to local, grass-roots initiatives, including NGO advocacy and watchdog activities to address constitutional reform, anti-corruption, government administration of public funds, youth empowerment, and employment for marginalized groups.
• Supported independent media and increased the availability of neutral and reliable information, supported 11 investigative reporting projects that informed citizens regarding important political, social, economic and corruption issues.
• Helped implement a State-level justice reform strategy and strengthen judicial independence. USG programs helped improve case administration in 18 prosecutors’ offices and assisted in legislative amendments to decrease backlog, and increased civil society participation in monitoring the work of the judiciary.
• Assisted local prosecutors to pursue indictments and initiate court cases in two high-profile incidents, one in which four defendants are alleged to be religious extremists who obtained weapons and military equipment with the intent of carrying out a terrorist attack in BiH, and another in which a bomb was detonated at a police station.

Economic Growth

• BY OBJECTIVE	FY 2011 ACTUAL	FY 2012 ESTIMATE	FY 2013 REQUEST
  TOTAL ($000s)	$48,727	$49,750	$45,541
  Peace and Security	$19,532	$22,170	$21,562
  Governing Justly and Democratically	$18,995	$19,529	$15,814
  Economic Growth	$10,200	$8,051	$8,165

  Increased the Federation government’s ability to manage its budget by helping it conduct the first-ever auction of government securities (T-bills) on a competitive basis. The $46.5 million auction produced a remarkably low yield of 2.32 percent, substantially exceeding government officials' expectations. USG programs also helped improve revenue collection and expand the tax base.
• To increase market competitiveness, assisted private enterprises and producers in agriculture, wood and metal, and tourism sectors, achieving significant results including higher quality dairy products entering new export markets. Financial consulting to local companies resulted in $6.4 million in new lending over nine months.
• Helping improve the financial sector by strengthening banking supervision and assistance for satisfying EU accession requirements for the financial sector (including banking and insurance).
• Assisted the Federation Energy Ministry to develop a new Federation Electricity Law to address renewable energy sources and environmental protection. Adoption of the law is expected this year.
• Trained judges involved in a number of high-profile intellectual property infringement cases, including the largest pirated software case ever pursued in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Coordinator's Office Annual Reports
U.S. Embassy Website
www.foreignassistance.gov