Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Policy for Information Society Development 2017–2021

POLITICAL CONCEPT

The policy of development of the information society of Bosnia and Herzegovina is conceptually prepared to:

– create a vision, goals and tasks to be achieved, realize and ensure their wider use and self-sustainability;

– create realistic preconditions for the development of a strategy that will enable the realization of the goals and objectives of the Policy, defining the basic pillars of development and programs for their realization;

– for each of the program pillars, determine the necessary activities for their implementation;

– indicates the need for further and accelerated development of ICT in Bosnia and Herzegovina, bearing in mind the “Digital Agenda for Europe”, and starting from the analysis of the existing situation;

– points out real problems and obstacles that need to be overcome;

– determines the prerequisites and mechanisms that will enable the realization of each program in its entirety.

VISION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

“Bosnia and Herzegovina – a digital state, which has recognized the social and economic potential of ICT and broadband access” is the vision of the development of the information society in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the coming period. To realize the vision, seven pillars of development were initially identified, which are followed by programs with individual goals and tasks. The information society development strategy will define the final number of pillars and programs.

GOALS AND TASKS

The basic goals that the Information Society Development Policy in BiH wants to achieve are:

– defining the direction of further and accelerated development of the ICT sector and broadband and realizing the preconditions for their realization;

– securing investments and increasing interest in the ICT sector and broadband;

– encouraging competition on the market of electronic communications;

– ensuring availability for broadband Internet access;

– encouraging end users, citizens and business entities to use available ICT tools and services in everyday life and business;

– ensuring the application of the most modern technological solutions;

– promoting green ICT that preserves the human environment;

– development of the capacities of the software industry of BiH.

The basic tasks of the state are to ensure significant support for the development of the ICT sector through the creation of conditions, the creation of an environment, as well as financial support for the implementation of projects and quality initiatives. The platform for the realization of the set goals, plans and programs of all social and economic activities should be a stable ICT sector. The state and the ICT sector must cooperate to remove business barriers at all levels. The prerequisite is the inclusion of all relevant factors with the obligation to actively participate in the further development of the knowledge society and the information society, on the way to the digital society. The modern digital society requires a strong and universally available infrastructure, which enables high-speed broadband connection for all households and businesses under equal conditions, and also ensures a solid, adequate and reliable international Internet connection. Precisely because of this, one of the main goals is to create preconditions for the accelerated development of fast and ultra-fast networks, i.e. broadband Internet access infrastructure.