Estonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stored in:

Country by Country

Estonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bilateral relations

(last updated: 06.03.2016)

Estonia recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 June 1992 and diplomatic relations were established on 8 February 1993.

Bosnia and Herzegovina covers Estonia from its embassy in Stockholm. Ambassador Jadranka Kalmeta presented credentials to President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on 12 December 2012.

Estonia’s ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Arti Hilpus, resides in Tallinn. He presented his credentials to the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic on 30 October 2012.

Important visits and meetings

June 2007 - Working visit of Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the course of which the Prime Minister attended the closing ceremony of the Camp Eagle Base of EUFOR near the city of Tuzla
September 2008 - Estonian Foreign Minster Urmas Paet met with Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sven Alkalaj within the framework of the UN General Assembly in New York
August 2009 - Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sven Alkalaj was in Estonia for an official visit
April 2010 – Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sven Alkalaj was in Tallinn for the meeting of NATO foreign ministers
June 2010 – Foreign Ministry Secretary General Marten Kokk was in Sarajevo for the high-level meeting of European Union and Western Balkan nations.

Agreements

Protocol on the implementation of the agreement on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation (came into force 6 December 2010)

Economic relations

Estonia’s economic relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina are fairly modest. In 2012 Bosnia and Herzegovina was in 88th place among Estonia’s trade partners.

The primary articles of export in 2011 foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, wood products, and plastic products. The previous year Bosnia and Herzegovina was Estonia’s 83^rd export partner.
The volume of imports to Estonia remained quite small compared to exports; in 2012 articles of import were mainly furniture and machinery and equipment.

From 2009-2012 there were no Estonian direct investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there were investments from Bosnia and Herzegovina registered in Estonia (since there were fewer than three investments per sector, the sum of the investments was not published).

Trade with Bosnia and Herzegovina 2008 – 2012 (thousands of EUR)

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Turnover	1450	1278	1917	1440	1784	1438	1790
Exports	1348	1016	1827	1431	1782	1261	1377
Imports	102	262	89.4	7.67	2	178	413

Allikas: Statistical Office of Estonia

Development co-operation

Through the years Estonia has supported the building of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the development of many sectors. Support has been given within the framework of defence-related co-operation—soldiers from Bosnia and Herzegovina have studied at the Baltic Defence College and officials from the country’s foreign ministry have become acquainted with the organization of Estonia’s higher national defence courses. Training courses and study visits have been organised for officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the areas of border patrol, e-government, taxes, auditing, statistics, environmental protection, and media freedom.

Participation in peacekeeping operations

Estonian servicemen participated in peace-keeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina starting in 1996. From 1996 – 1999, in peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Estonia 40-member infantry platoons ESTPLA participated in the ranks of the Danish battalion in the framework of the international Implementation Force (IFOR). In the following years, Estonia participated in the international Stabilization Force (SFOR) with a smaller number of peacekeepers.

As of the second half of 2005 until June 2007, in the framework of the EU Force (EUFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 28-29 member infantry platoons ESTGUARD formed based on the Defence League participated in the ranks of the Czech-Austria-Estonia-Slovakia unit. In the summer of 2007 EUFOR’s Camp Eagle Base near Tuzla was closed, as a result of which ESTGUARD also ended its activities. However, Estonia continued to participate in the EU military mission EUFOR-ALTHEA. The number of soldiers in that mission decreased from year to year, and at the end of 2011 Estonia ended its participation in the mission.

On 1 January 2003 the EU Police Mission (EUPM) began in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Estonia participated until the end of 2011.