BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - The international community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajčák, and the Head of the EU Police Mission in Bosnia, Vincenzo Coppola, met in Sarajevo yesterday to discuss ways to take police reform in Bosnia forward and open the door to Bosnia’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU. Concrete progress on police restructuring in September is required for Bosnia not to fall further behind neighbouring countries on the path to the EU membership.

“There is no greater immediate priority for Bosnia,” the High Representative and EU Special Representative said. “For the European Union the issue is straightforward. We have done our part of the job and are now waiting for Bosnia to fulfil the necessary reforms to meet requirements for signing an SAA.”

Police restructuring is one of the outstanding reforms required for Bosnia to be able to sign an SAA with the European Union. It is a technical issue that could be resolved quickly.

“Police reform is crucial not only for Bosnia’s EU future, but also for the security of its citizens,” General Coppola said. “Police reform will bring more structured and territorially efficient Bosnian police forces. The EUPM will continue to support the police reform process.”

General Coppola also made a presentation on the wider work of the EUPM in Bosnia. The High Representative and EU Special Representative and General Coppola agreed to work closely together to advance the Bosnian police-reform process and other related issues.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The police arrested a Serbian living in Bosnia,Mladen Perkovic (21), who is directly related to the attack on the Orthodox Christian Bishop of Bihac, the police announced.

The police sources announced that the person arrested is Mladen Perkovic, brother of Milan Perkovic, the priest who called the police on Monday in Bosanski Petrovac to inform them about the attack against the bishop,Bosnian daily “Oslobodjenje” wrote yesterday.

The bishop is in hospital , recovering.Several persons entered his room on Monday and physically attacked him.

The police sources stated that they know the group from Sipovo which can be linked to the latest attack. One of the group members is allegedly Mladen Perkovic, who was known to have frequently visited the bishopric in order to visit his brother. This was the fourth breaking and entering case in the bishopric.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Bosnian Council of Ministers representatives and representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed on Tuesday in Sarajevo the Agreement on the Bosnian Road reconstruction Project worth EUR 75 million and Agreement on Bijeljina Soil Pipe System Reconstruction worth EUR 7 million.

The Bosnian Minister of Finances and vault Dragan Vrankic and President of EBRD Jean Lemierre signed a loan agreement between Bosnia and EBRD for the road reconstruction project and a loan agreement on the Bijeljina soil pipe system reconstruction.

Borjana Kristo, the FBIH Entity President and EBRD President Lemierre, signed the Agreement of Support for the Bosnian Road reconstruction Project, and the FBIH Entity Roads Director Ljubo Pravdic and Mr. Lemierre sigend the Project Agreement between EBRD and this company.

Prior to the signing, a meeting was held between Bosnia's Prime Minister Nikola Spiric, Finances Minister Dragan Vrankic, Minister of Traffic and Communications Bozo Ljubic and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Alkalaj with the EBRD representatives lead by Mr. Lemierre.

Spiric presented Mr. Lemierre with encouraging trends in the Bosnian economy.He stated that, so far, 56 projects for Bosnia have been approved, worth EUR 56 million.

EBRD President Lemierre announced that 15 projects will be signed for Bosnia during the year; 12 of them related to the legal sector.

SARAJEVO - The Bosnian Foreign Trade Chamber President Slobodan Župljanin has resigned from his position.According to Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz, Slobodan Župljanin said that he was resigning because of the pressure put on him with claims he was helping his relative, Hague fugitive,Serbian war criminal Stojan Župljanin, hide from justice.

Slobodan Župljanin was elected at the beginning of last year. He owns the Banja Luka companies Atina Trade and Hotel Atina.Bosnian daily writes that Župljanin was asked to resign, even though he has since denied such claims.

Secretary-General of the Bosnian Foreign Trade Chamber, Tarik Đodić, confirmed that Župljanin handed in his resignation and added that the Chamber had yet to schedule a meeting to confirm the resignation.