UNESCO requested the establishment of the agency as it was including the Old Bridge and the town nucleus into its world cultural heritage list.
The agency is expected to help local Croats, Serbs and Albanians, who had owned or leased business premises in the old town centre before the war, to claim back those premises which were used by local Bosniaks after the war.
Bosniaks using business premises in the old town centre lately have been opposing requests that the premises be returned to people who had owned or used them before the war, which caused debates in the local media. There were also reports that UNESCO could cancel its decision to include the Old Bridge into its world cultural heritage list if the old town centre was not given back its pre-war multiethnic character.