REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF REINDUSTRIALIZATION AND GREEN TRANSITION
EKONOMSKI FAKULTET, ISTOČNO SARAJEVO
26th– 27th March 2026
XV INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE JAHORINA BUSINESS FORUM 2026 (JBF2026)
Dear colleagues, friends and authors,
Delusions about great and “sacred” goals and fruitless, primarily political, work in the post-conflict period have led us into a long-term economic and political crisis and almost led us astray in life. In particular, some so-called natural regions, understood as geographical units, have suffered, and with them a large number of local communities, or local self-governments.
The attitude towards space, which is most closely connected with the “green” economy, says a lot about the bad deeds of all subjects of the political and economic system. Let us mention only depopulation and demographic emptying of space, deagrarization, the attitude towards arable land, pollution of the natural environment, destruction of livestock, forest resources, small rivers, up to the inflationary impact of food deficits, parasitism and laziness of a significant number of the population, and the decline in optimism in society, etc. We have forgotten about production, integral rural development, or the “rural economy”, craft activities and professions, land rehabilitation, the new world of energy, entrepreneurship, as well as the necessary policy of ecological transformation at the system, regional and local levels.
This scientific conference should be a kind of “prayer” on the edge of the precipice, pointing out the bitter pills we have taken and the knowledge and ideologies that have distanced us from meaningful business and healthy living. But, above all, it should be a useful meeting and an opportunity to exchange experiences between the participants, i.e. the host and his guests.
Impoverished and misled, we know everything about how some countries have failed in development, and others, again, have succeeded, and we do not know how to find a cure for ourselves, nor how to find the strength to make a decisive turn. It’s nice to be a tourist, love and develop tourism, engage in hunting and fishing, serve as a waiter in halls full of guests, but without “production” there is no long-term economic growth, nor a high standard of living (Kaldor’s laws). Especially for a country that has resources and is at a lower level of development. Industrialization, or reindustrialization, is a necessary stage in the country’s development, which transforms its production sector and strengthens its resistance to all challenges and risks. Certainly, a necessary phase to get out of the zone of dystopia and “great decline”.
What is important to emphasize here is that there is no industrialization and reindustrialization without a meaningful, well-founded policy vs. of these processes (goals, programs, projects). It refers to both general and sectoral industrial policies. Our transition so far has been more black than “green”, although we have all the possibilities and factor potentials for it to be a good green one. It has been shown in the history of human society that there are no coincidences, both in nature and in the economy, life, and politics. Only serious, calculating and rational ones succeed. Random leaders and random policies cause headaches. We desperately need a better economic and new industrial policy.
Regional and local development, as well as “forces of nature”, natural resources and their smarter use must not be ignored. Economic and social life must be harmonized with the life of nature and the natural environment. Cooperation with nature, preservation of nature and timely action in relation to climate change were and remain a high priority of every industrial and environmental policy and other modernization policies. Artificial intelligence and digitization are also there, among the priorities, as an important segment of modernization processes as a whole.