The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH at the session held on 7th and 8th October this year has deliberated the Annual report on progress of implementation of the Action plan 1 of the Strategy of the Public Administration Reform in BiH for 2007, and asked from the institutions and administrative authorities on levels covered by the Strategy for a higher level of cooperation and responsibility in applying the measures of the reform, exchange and delivering the information.
With the 28 votes in favor and six abstentions, the delegates have supported the conclusion of the Constitutional-Legal Commission by which it has been initiated holding the session of the Coordination Board for Economic Development and the European integrations with the goal of overcoming the identified problems, ensuring the further coordinated approach and continuation of political support to applying the measures of the reform.
The delegates have agreed that it is necessary to strengthen the position and role of the Public Administration Reform Coordinator, especially the coordinator of the Government of the FBiH and the Government of the RS, and improve the coordination of other structures for implementation of measures and activities from the Action plan 1, and develop the mechanisms of coordination and consultations of administrative authorities of all levels regarding agreed acting towards the donors and more efficient use of the donor assistance.
When speaking of the Annual report on implementation of the Action plan 1 of the Strategy of the Public Administration Reform, Nevenka Savić, the state Public Administration Reform Coordinator has pointed out that this was the first official overview of the progress in six reform areas (human resources, public finances, legal drafting, administrative procedure, information technologies and institutional communication), documented by the proofs on fulfilling the measures.
“The goal of the reformed administration is to offer to citizens more quality service with less costs, to do the business on the basis of transparent and open procedures, and to fulfill all conditions set by the European Integrations, so the continued and sustainable socio-economic development can be ensured”, Savić has said.
The Coordinator’s Office is the first domestic institution which has been accredited for an operative coordination of the Fund, meaning donor money, and that is about 4.5 million Euros intended for implementation of the projects from the frame of the Action plan 1.
“The Joint Management Board of the Fund has by now approved financing of six projects for realization of the measures of the AP 1 which have been prepared by the Coordinator’s Office, and whose total estimated value is 2 million and 786.000 KM”, Savić has said and reminded that the Office has already delivered the second quarter report in this year which has been adopted by the Council of Ministries, and collecting data for reporting period from 1st July to 30th September of 2008 is in the process.
The Public Administration Reform in BiH is based on the key documents: the Strategy of the Public Administration Reform in BiH and the Action plan 1 with the Strategy of the Public Administration Reform in BiH.
The Strategy of the Public Administration Reform is an overall and universal document, focused on improvement of the general administrative capacities, more precisely the ways in which the state administration is organized, how it creates the policies, drafts and implements the budget, hires and trains the staff.
Action plan 1 represents the operation of the Strategy and brings the concrete activities and measures for implementation. Public Administration Reform represents the reform of the state service in central administrations on levels of BiH, the entities and the Brčko District of BiH, with an indirect impact on lower administrative levels, but never a reform of the whole public sector. Such reform is a precondition for integration of BiH into the European Union, which considers the administrative capacities able to implement the acquis communautaire one of the most important criteria for membership.