Bosnia and Herzegovina must raise its standards to continue to export meat and milk on the Croatian market after accession of this country into the European Union in the mid of next year, said today in Sarajevo, a member of the Croatian negotiating team with the EU Ruzica Gelo.

Speaking to media at the presentation of results of the "Good Neighbors" project, done by a research center "Populari", with the support of the government of Great Britain, Gelo said that Croatia’s accession to the European Union brings cancellation of the Free Trade Agreement, or CEFTA Agreement from 2006.

From that point onwards, Croatia and BiH in their mutual trade shall apply the provisions of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between BiH and the European Union.

Speaking from Croatia’s experience, she pointed out that section 12 (Veterinary and Food Safety) was one of the most challenging areas and for the first time in the case of Croatia and Turkey, this area was set aside as a separate chapter.

“The mere list of legislation includes 120 pages of various regulations, directives, and other things, and the task of each state in the pre-accession period is to implement those regulations into national legislation,” said a member of the Croatian negotiating team Ruzica Gelo.

One of the members of the research team "Populari" Vesna Malenica said that one of the goals of "Good Neighbors" project, done in the last year, was to contribute to the process of BiH’s joining the EU in a clear, practical and concrete way.

Malenica says that BiH is in a certain way in a favorable position because it has Croatia for a neighbor, which has successfully completed its accession process, and is ready to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina through that process by learning from successes and mistakes made by Croatia.

She disagrees with claims that the accession of Croatia into the EU would put BiH into isolation no matter what it does.

“The process is difficult but manageable,” said Malenica.