Central Bosnia Canton

Central Bosnia Canton occupies the geographic and demographic center of the Federation, containing the historic town of Travnik—once seat of Ottoman viziers who governed Bosnia for centuries. This central position created both wartime devastation (multiple front lines converged here) and post-war recovery challenges (infrastructure destroyed, populations displaced). The canton's mixed Bosniak-Croat composition requires power-sharing arrangements that complicate governance.

Manufacturing survives from Yugoslav-era industrialization. The Zenica-Travnik corridor contains metalworking, food processing, and wood industry facilities that employ significant portions of the workforce. Unlike purely agricultural cantons, Central Bosnia maintains industrial employment—though at reduced capacity compared to pre-war levels. The Vitez industrial zone specifically targets foreign investment with infrastructure and incentive packages.

EU integration offers the clearest development path. The canton benefits from Bosnia's March 2025 opening of EU accession negotiations, which promise infrastructure investment along the Corridor 5c route that crosses the region. Whether Central Bosnia can leverage its position—literally central to the country's transport geography—depends on infrastructure completion that has been delayed for decades by entity-level disagreements.