Članak novinarke Reuters-a o Bosansko-podrinjskom kantonu sa prevodom

Gorazde an oasis of economic good news in post-war Bosnia
Muslim Bosniak town resisted conquest through 1992-95 war
Bosnia suffering unrest over unemployment, corruption

By Daria Sito-Sucic

GORAZDE, Bosnia, March 20 (Reuters) – The people of Gorazde pride themselves on their resilience, forged during Bosnia's 1992-95 war. Gorazde survived while other Muslim Bosniak enclaves in the country's east, Srebrenica most notoriously, fell to separatist Serb forces.

The exodus came later, during peacetime, when Gorazde was forgotten, a riverside town of bombed and idled factories where jobs were few and far between.

Two decades later, however, Gorazde is once again showing the way – as a magnet for job-seekers lured by a local industrial boom in a country otherwise plagued by unemployment, corruption and political inertia.

While more than a quarter of Bosnia's workforce is jobless, in Gorazde the number of people in work has almost doubled over the past five years. Its factories count among their clients some of the giants of the world's auto industry.

“Gorazde was forgotten and neglected by the state,” said Mayor Muhamed Ramovic, known to locals as “Rambo” for his get-ahead personality. “There were always promises that were not met, and that's why we decided to save Gorazde by ourselves, with the help of our businessmen.”

The story of Gorazde's revival has become particularly pertinent since February, when Bosnia was convulsed by its worst civil unrest since the war, fuelled by frustration over a stagnant economy and a corrupt political class.

Social discontent runs deep, posing a growing challenge to Bosnia's post-war political order without meaningful progress on the economic front. For many, Gorazde shows how.

BUSINESSMAN'S RETURN

Its industry ravaged by the war, Gorazde was left isolated in peace – part of an autonomous, mainly Bosniak and Croat entity called the Federation to which it was joined only by a thin land corridor and surrounded by Serb-held territory.

By 2008, just 3,500 of the 25,000 people living in the wider Gorazde region had jobs. Others were leaving.

The roots of the turnaround lay in a decision in 2005 by Gorazde-born businessman Redzo Bekto to return from Austria, where he had fled during the war.

What began as a modest, eight-person operation called Bekto Preciza today boasts 432 employees and exports car parts to the likes of Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.

Word spread in the automobile industry, and others followed. One company, ASA Prevent, has opened two plants in the town since 2008 and today employs 1,100 people.

“We offered investors a skilled workforce with know-how from the chemical and defence industries that existed here before. And we had the Bekto family, which brought investors,” said Emir Frasto, head of the Gorazde cantonal government, or “prime minister” under Bosnia's highly decentralised system.

In 2011, the cantonal government offered investors state-owned land for 1 Bosnian marka (50 euro cents), on the condition that whoever took up the offer would hire 760 workers over the following two years and pay salaries above the Bosnian average.

The government foots the cost of health insurance for workers up to the age of 27 and organises training.

“All export companies are in expansion, and we expect 1,400 new jobs to be created by the end of the year, double previous expectations,” said Demir Imamovic, the cantonal economy minister. He said the number of people in work should hit 7,000 this year, twice as many as in 2008.

“The winds of change touched everyone,” he said.

PUSHING BOUNDARIES

At Bekto Preciza's sleek, state-of-the-art production plant, construction engineers produce tools and plastic parts including FIFA- and UEFA-approved stadium seats and ski bindings for brands such as Marker and Fischer.

The 35-year-old family business plans to hire another 250 workers at a new plant, while Bekto wants to expand production at two other firms he established, including a joint venture with Germany's Hella, which produces auto lighting.

Bosnia's ethnic division was at the root of anger that boiled over in February over jobs, graft and political bickering.

The labyrinthine system of ethnic quotas has spawned a huge, costly and inefficient public sector that suffocates business and deters investors. The Bosniak-Croat Federation itself is split into 10 cantons each with a government that wields broad executive powers.

Frasto said the political arrangement was stifling, and that his government was encouraging companies to expand into Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic.

“We can hardly develop within the borders of the Federation,” he told Reuters. “We don't think this administrative system is conducive for development.”

Serbs are already coming the other way.

“I'm grateful to find work here,” said Slobodanka Tosic, one of around 90 Serbs who travel daily to work at ASA Prevent in Gorazde. Tosic, who lost her job in a glass factory in the Bosnian Serb town of Cajnice near the Montenegrin border, now sows seat covers for Volkswagen cars.

“Nobody works in Cajnice,” she said.

Steve Reitz, an aid worker from Florida, moved his family to Gorazde in 2001, leased land and started a raspberry plantation. Five years ago, he said, “many, many people were leaving and going to Sarajevo because that's where the jobs were. Now I see a great hope in Gorazde.”

A handful of small towns in Bosnia have made good against the odds. But whether the model can be replicated on a state level depends on Bosnia's leaders putting aside ethnic differences and overhauling a broken system that has kept big investors away. February's unrest has given activists fresh impetus to seek change, but the challenges are considerable.

“Gorazde shows what the first investor means and what the initiative of a couple of people can do,” said economic analyst Svetlana Cenic, a former finance minister in the Serb Republic.

“If such a trend were imposed by the top three people in the state, if it were replicated at other levels of governance, this country would look completely different.”

“Small is beautiful,” said Imamovic, the cantonal economy minister. “All the richest towns in the world are small. The rule is to get things in order in your own house first.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/us-bosnia-town-revival-idUSBREA2J0T820140320

Goražde, Bosna , 20. marta ( Reuters ) - Ljudi iz Goražda ponose se na njihovu otpornost, kovanu u Bosni tokom perioda rata od 1992. do 1995. godine. Goražde je preživjelo , dok su ostale Bošnjačke enklave na istoku zemlje kao Srebrenica većinom notorno, pale u separatističke srpske snage.

Egzodus je došao kasnije , u mirnodopskom razdoblju , kada je Goražde palo u zaborav , na priobalni grad koji je bombardovan a u fabrikama je bilo vrlo malo posla.

Dvije decenije kasnije , međutim , Goražde još jednom pokazuje put - kao magnet za tražitelje zaposlenja, namamljeni od strane lokalnog industrijskog buma u zemlji s druge strane koju muče nezaposlenost , korupcija i politička inertnost.

Dok je više od četvrtine bosanske radne snage bez posla , u Goraždu broj ljudi koji rade se gotovo udvostručio u posljednjih pet godina. Neke fabrike među svojim klijentima imaju gigante svjetske auto industrije.

" Goražde je bilo zaboravljeno i zanemareno od strane države ", rekao je načelnik Muhamed Ramović , poznat mještanima kao " Rambo " zbog njegove osobenosti da ide uvjek naprijed. " Uvijek je bilo obećanja koja nisu ispunjena , i to je razlog zašto smo odlučili spasiti Goražde sami, uz pomoć naših poslovnih ljudi . "

Priča o preporodu Goražda postala je posebno relevantna od februara, kada je Bosna potresena najgorim građanskih nemirima od početka rata, potaknuta frustriranosti stagnacije privrede i korumpirane političke klase .

Socijalno nezadovoljstvo je duboko, što predstavlja rastući izazov poslijeratnog političkog poretka BiH bez značajnog napredka na privrednom planu . Za mnoge, Goražde pokazuje kako .

Njegova industrija je opustošena ratom, Goražde je ostalo izolovano u miru - dio autonomnog, uglavnom bošnjačkog i hrvatskog entiteta nazivom Federacija s kojim je povezan samo tankim koridorom okružen teritorijom koju drže Srbi .

Do 2008, samo 3.500 od 25.000 ljudi koji žive u široj regiji Goražde imalo je posao. Drugi su otišli.

Korijeni preokreta leže u odluci 2005.godine da se rođeni goraždanin biznismen Redžo Bekto vrati iz Austrije , gdje je bio za vrijeme rata.

Ono što je počelo kao skromno , operacija zvana Bekto Preciza sa osam uposlenih osoba danas ima 432 zaposlenih i izvozi auto dijelove kao Audi, Porsche , BMW i Mercedes.

Riječi se šire u automobilskoj industriji, a ostali ih slijede. Jedna kompanija , ASA Prevent, otvorila je dva pogona u gradu od 2008.godine i danas zapošljava 1.100 ljudi .

" Ponudili smo investitorima kvalificiranu radnu snagu sa znanjem iz hemijske i vojne industrije koji su postojali ovdje ranije . I imali smo porodicu Bekto, koji je doveo investitore", rekao je Emir Frasto, vođa kantonalne vlade, ili " Premijer " u bosanskom visokom decentralizovanom sistemu .

U 2001.godini kantonalna vlada ponudila je investitorima državno zemljište za 1 bosansku marku (50 eurocenti ) , pod uslovom da onaj ko prihvati tu ponudu zaposli 760 radnika u naredne dvije godine i isplati plaće iznad bosanskog prosjeka.

Vlada plaća troškove zdravstvenog osiguranja za radnike do dobi od 27 godina i organizira obuku .

" Sve izvozne kompanije su u ekspanziji , a očekujemo da će 1.400 novih radnih mjesta, biti stvoreno do kraja godine, duplo više od prethodno očekivanog ", kazao je Demir Imamović ,kantonalni ministar privrede. On je rekao da broj ljudi koji rade do kraja ove godine bi trebao dostići 7000, dvostruko više nego u 2008.godini.

U dotjeranoj Bekto Precizi, najsavremijem proizvodnom pogonu, građevinski inženjeri proizvode alate i plastične dijelove , uključujući i sjedala na stadionima odobrena od FIFA-e - i UEFA-e te skijaške vezove za brendove kao što su Marker i Fischer .

35 –godišnji porodični biznis planira zaposliti još 250 radnika u novoj tvornici , a Bekto želi proširiti proizvodnju i na druge dvije firme koje je uspostavio , uključujući i “joint venture” s njemačkom firmom Hella , koja proizvodi auto rasvjete .

Etnička podjela Bosne bila je u korijenu bijes koji je proključao u februaru zbog radnih mjesta, korupcije i političkog prepucavanja.

Komplicirani sistem etničkih kvota je iznjedrio veliki , skupi i neučinkovit javni sektor koji guši poslovanje i odvraća ulagače . Bošnjačko-hrvatska Federacija i sama je podijeljena u 10 kantona svaka s vladom koja drži visoka široka izvršna ovlašćenja.

Frašto je rekao da je politički dogovor bio zagušljiv i da njegova vlada ohrabruje kompanije de se prošire na bosanski entitet Republika Srpska .

" Teško se možemo razvijati samo u granicama Federacije ", rekao je za Reuters . " Ne mislimo da je administrativni sistem pogodan za razvoj . "

" Zahvalna sam što mogu naći posao ovdje , " rekla je Slobodanka Tošić , jedna od 90-ak Srba koji svakodnevno putuju na posao u ASA Prevent u Goraždu . Tošić , koja je izgubila posao u tvornici stakla u gradu bosanskih Srba Čajniču blizu crnogorske granice, sada šije navlake za sjedala za Volkswagen automobile .

Steve Reitz ,humanitarni radnik iz Floride , preselio je svoju porodicu u Goražde 2001.godine , uzeo u zakup zemljište i zasijao plantažu malina . Prije pet godina , kako je rekao, " mnogi , mnogi ljudi su odlazili u Sarajevo , jer je to mjesto gdje su bila radna mjesta . Sad vidim veliku nadu u Goraždu . "

Pregršt malih gradova u Bosni su napravili dobrih stvari uprkos svemu . No, da li se model može replicirati na državnoj razini zavisi o bosanskim liderima stavljajući na stranu etničke razlike i popravku slomljenog sistema koji je držao velike ulagače po strani. Nemiri u Februaru dali su novi podsticaj aktivistima da traže promjenu , ali izazovi su značajni .

" Goražde pokazuje šta znači prvi investitor i šta inicijativa nekoliko ljudi može da uradi ", rekla je ekonomski analitičar Svetlana Čenić ,bivši ministar finansija u Republici Srpskoj .

" Ako se takav trend koji je nametnut od strane tri vodeća čovjeka u državi, replicira na druge nivoe vlasti, ova zemlja će izgledati potpuno drugačije . "

" Malo je lijepo ", rekao je Imamović ,kantonalni ministar privrede. " Svi su najbogatiji gradovi u svijetu

mali

. “Pravilo je da se stvari urede prvo u svojoj vlastitoj kući.”