According to Jasmina Opardija-Šušnjar, member of the steering board of the association i-dijaspora, which assembles people from BiH in Switzerland, it is very important to establish a communication strategy with different diaspora groups .

In order to not lose this potential, the association i-dijaspora developed the project "i-platform", that aims to facilitate the bridge-building and to strengthen the connection between BiH and the diaspora in Switzerland.

Opardija-Šušnjar emphasises that it is not necessarily a project, which aims to build one bridge between two states, but also various bridges between people in the diaspora and local communities, where they come from.

Furthermore, people, who are living abroad, have a strong bond to the local community, where they come from, so they usually want to contribute to the development of their native place.

Considering the fact, that a lot of diaspora members don’t know, who they need to talk to and where to find information about investing in BiH or launching an initiative in order to contribute to the development and cooperation with BiH, i-dijaspora aims to establish a connecting platform, that provides information about possible investment in BiH, but also fosters the connection in the cultural and educational/scientific sector and promotes existing initiatives.

In Switzerland, there is a high number of people from BiH, that built a successful career in very significant sectors and want to somehow support BiH.

“We have for example Mario Batković, who plays accordion and is famous in Switzerland. There are also people from Switzerland, that started their own business in BiH, like for example Edin Dacić , whose factory in Prnjavor produces products for IKEA”, she highlights.

Referring to institutions, Opardija-Šušnjar mentions, that i-dijaspora is in contact with the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees BiH, which has a separate section especially for the diaspora. This ministry initiated in cooperation with the Government of Switzerland a huge research, that demonstrated, that more than 60’000 people from BiH are living in Switzerland. It is an estimated number, since a lot of diaspora members received the Swiss citizenship and are therefore not anymore listed in the statistics. Furthermore, research findings showed, that the BiH diaspora group in Switzerland is ethnically separated like in BiH.

Creating a good business environment to attract the diaspora

In spite of all their efforts Opardija-Šušnjar mentions, that it is necessary that the state, besides of the strategy, also creates a good business environment in order to attract diaspora members to invest in BiH.

Considering the fact, that the diaspora represents already a significant economic factor with making remittances, which have a great impact on the GDP and somehow obtain the social peace in this country, this could be of great economic interest.

According to Opardija-Šušnjar, previous connections could be more activated by attracting a higher number of investors from the diaspora. “In my opinion, the interest is not a problem, but the capacity of institutions and the trust in them”, she highlights.

She adds, that the trust in institutions is very important. “People, who come here, know perfectly, that the judicature is not working and that it is hard to get justice, when, for example, somebody won’t pay you for a job. This trust in institutions is very important and it is necessary to primary start working on that in order to attract people to start a business here”, Opardija-Šušnjar explains.

Alone the fact, that corruption is very present, scares investors, and the violation of basic rights shows, that BiH is still not capable to protect their own citizens, not to mention investors from abroad. All this impedes the process of having confidence and trust for those, who want to come and invest in BiH, she says.

The main supporter of their project “i-platform” is the Swiss Government, that has a specific focus on migration, since more than two million people of the Swiss population, that has in total 8 million inhabitants, are foreigners (around 24%).

“The stability of the region is very important for Switzerland, that has concluded a migration partnership with BiH. They want to support our citizens, of which a high number has also the Swiss citizenship. For them it is important, that those people have a good connection with their home country and can actively participate in the development process of BiH”,she emphasises and adds, that one million KM, that Switzerland invested in BiH during the last 20 years, shows, that they want this country to become stabile and foster its development. 

The article was taken from Akta.ba.