Banja Luka used to occupy the biggest municipality area in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was one of the ten largest cities in the former Yugoslavia. With its population of about 250.000 it is the largest city of the Republic of Srpska and the second largest in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city represents the most significant administrative, economic, cultural and university center of the Republic of Srpska.

The town is located in the valley, at the 164 m above the sea level, where the Dinaric Alps from the south descend into the Panonnian Basin in the north. Banja Luka has mild-continental climate with warm summers and mildly cold winters. The average annual temperature is 10,7 C (July  21,3 C/January  0,8 C). The city belongs to the Central European Time Zone (GMT +1).

Due to its numerous parks and the tree lined avenues, Banja Luka is deemed the “city of greenery”. It has been also known as the city of youth, sports and beautiful girls. Banja Luka is a member of the network of the biggest cities in the Balkans (Balsinet) and a city partner of many other European cities, such as: Keiserslautern, Moscow, Lvov, Patras, Belgrade, Kranj, Novi Sad, etc. In ex Yugoslavia, the city used to be an important industrial centre for the machine, electrical and paper industry, but also for the textile and food processing.

During the civil war period and the subsequent social and economic transition most of the industrial capacity and the respective markets have been lost. Therefore, the post-war Banja Luka has opened more towards the market oriented countries, identifying its development potentials in trade, tourism, agriculture and food processing industry.