Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully committed to Agenda 2030, which is the most comprehensive global sustainable and transformational development agreement for all United Nations Member States and has the Sustainable Development Goals at its core. It helps countries commit, align and measure their respective contribution to such an ambitious yet crucial endeavor.

Bosnia and Herzegovina embarked on its participatory and exploratory 2030 journey in 2016. It will present the way it has implemented the process thus far and the results to date at a high-level political forum to be held in New York in July 2019. In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Agenda 2030 is equally about peace as it is about development. Given the country's governance structure, it is more about the connective and collaborative process that Agenda 2030 has helped unlock than about the end destination itself.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is committed to becoming a member of the European Union (EU) family. EU accession, Agenda 2030 and the SDGs are perceived as mutually reinforcing and complimentary processes that encourage institutions and citizens to strive for a better society and a future where no one is left behind and where people, prosperity, peace, partnership and care for our planet are at the core of a better and common future.

At the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Agenda 2030 efforts is the elaboration and adoption of the SDG Framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is being developed through an extensive and reiterative consultative process with various institutions, CSOs, the private sector, academia and citizens at large. This document will inform all strategic planning processes that the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Brčko District embarking upon in 2019. This Voluntary National Review informs on the process undertaken in the country, which to date has engaged thousands of people.

Agenda 2030 is a change maker in so many ways for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its timing and universality offers a unique opportunity to approach development holistically and its connectivity enables the governments to work together, learn from each other and develop strong and open partnerships. This is a priceless process.

The ‘Imagine2030’ initiative provided an opportunity for citizens across the country to co-create the future. Their perspectives helped shape Vision 2030 and the development pathways that the country is to embrace. Through dedicated data analysis, we developed a better understanding of the country’s baseline position. This allows us to focus and increase efforts to improve the quality of life and prosperity for all, including future generations, but not at the expense of the nature world and the environment.

We are learning by doing. Agenda 2030 calls for introspection, conversation and dialogue, adaptation, innovation, creative and adaptive business and above all collective action and efforts by every individual and every form of human organization, ranging from families and communities to the private sector, government and global networks.

We anticipate change and the use of our collective foresight to find solutions to the most pressing issues that the world and each of our countries are facing. We are transforming our systems, our perspectives and ourselves in order to change our possibilities. It is an exciting time that offers a lifetime opportunity to change the course of development so that it becomes sustainable and to the benefit of all.

It is our great honor to be part of this amazing transformative agenda and a member of the global family. We are obliged for the sake of future generations to do something today and therefore must choose the path less travelled on this journey of discovery. We do not have all the answers, but we are striving to get to them in time and at scale that really matters.