On 24 November 2023 in Sarajevo, the Director of the Directorate for European Integration, Elvira Habota, and the Minister for European Integration of Serbia, Tanja Miščević, signed the Financial Agreement for the new IPA Cross-Border Cooperation Programme between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2021 – 2027. The signing took place on the occasion of the Final Conference of the IPA Cross-Border Programme Serbia – Bosnia and Herzegovina 2014-2020, with the presence of the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in BiH, Adebayo Babajide.

By signing this agreement, an additional 14 million euros from the European Union are now available for projects within the framework of cross-border cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The focus of the support will be on youth and their employment, the enhancement of tourist capacities, and the development of joint tourism offerings.

This marks the continuation of successful collaboration and partnership building among program beneficiaries in the two countries. As highlighted during the conference, this collaboration has resulted in 75 projects involving over 250 partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia during the IPA I and IPA II perspectives.

Through the previous two IPA perspectives, the European Union has allocated 26.5 million euros for this program, supporting joint projects in areas such as environmental protection, natural disaster prevention, tourism development, cultural heritage protection, and more.