November 19 (SeeNews) - Sweden has provided 4.2 million euro ($4.7 million) to finance a project for treatment of persistent organic pollutants (POP) waste in Bosnia, a Swedish government official said.
Sweden has launched the five-year POP management programme in Bosnia in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, Torgny Svenungsson, head of collaboration department of Sweden's embassy in Bosnia, said in a video file uploaded on the YouTube channel of Fena news agency on Monday.
He also said that he hopes Bosnia will meet its international obligations, as the issue is directly related to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Svenungsson added that the project is of great significance for the country's aspirations to join the European Union.
The World Health Organization describes persistent organic pollutants as "chemicals of global concern due to their potential for long-range transport, persistence in the environment, ability to bio-magnify and bio-accumulate in ecosystems, as well as their significant negative effects on human health and the environment."
Bosnia's foreign trade minister Mirko Sarovic said that the project is a chance to do something practical in order to solve the POPs issue in Tuzla and Banja Luka, where the country's biggest industrial pollutants are located.
Local media reported that the project will be implemented by the UNDP in collaboration with Bosnia's ministry of foreign trade, the Serb Republic's ministry of spatial planning and the Federation's ministry of environment.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is composed of two autonomous entities - the Federation and the Serb Republic.
($ = 0.903024 euro)