Public statement on the occasion of signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina on BiH’s participation in the program MEDIA 2007
Foreign Policy Initiative BH commends the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Union (EU) and Bosnia and Herzegovina on BiH’s participation in the program MEDIA 2007-2013 which was signed today.
With the signing of the Memorandum, BiH is officially integrated in the EU audio-visual sector even before becoming an EU member state. This is a clear example that when there is sufficient will and knowledge, it is possible to create very concrete sector harmonization with the EU which, in this case, will be of great help to all audio-visual creators and cinematographers in BiH.
The MEDIA 2007 Program is a specialized program of the European Union for audio-visual sector support which provides professional specialization, film project development, distribution, screening and promotion, as well as promotion of films and audio-visual programs and movie festivals.
With the signing of this Memorandum, BiH film directors, producers, scriptwriters and other physical and legal entities involved with the audio-visual activities will have the opportunity to compete for financial support for production, promotion and distribution of European audiovisual projects. The overall budget of the program for the time span of 2007-2013 is 755 million Euros.
Like all the other non-EU member countries, BiH will pay annual membership fee, which is calculated based on number of citizens, GDP and the amount of audio-visual production. This is a tremendous opportunity for BiH to get maximum support from these kinds of programs, for it will pay minimum amount of membership fee, while, on the other hand, it has very successful and prolific audio-visual sector. In that sense, it is predicted that the ‘entry ticket’ for MEDIA 2007 of 40.000 Euros for 2013, will bring back at least five times more funds in BiH.
It is expected that the MEDIA 2007 program will strengthen the competitiveness of the BiH audio-visual sector through easier availability of financing, distribution and promotion of audio visual works and through assistance in specialization of film industry workers.
With the support of the Open Society Fund BiH, and in cooperation with Film Fund within the FBiH Ministry of Culture, and with a wholehearted assistance of the Media Desk Croatia, FPI BH has organized a seminar on the modules of applying and using the means from this program. Thus, the FPI BH expresses its great satisfaction, that from today, BiH is a full pledged member of the EU audio-visual sector.
Foreign Policy Initiative BH press team
