German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Bosnia-Herzegovina to launch social and economic reforms that would create jobs and speed up the EU membership process.
Merkel met with Bosnian leaders in Sarajevo on July 9 at the last stop of a two-day regional tour that also included Albania and Serbia.
She said Germany stands “by the European perspective of all countries in the region.”
"We know that the problems which have to be solved here in Bosnia-Herzegovina are very complicated, but that the entire region can only prosper if Bosnia-Herzegovina develops well," Merkel added.
Bosnia is one of the poorest in Europe with an unemployment rate of more than 40 percent. The country is also lagging behind its neighbors on the path toward EU membership.