BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – Haris Silajdzic,a member of the Bosnian Presidency issued a statement in which he concludes with regret that the Peace Implementation Council Declaration has ignored entirely the factual situation in Bosnia and that it is trying in every way possible to maintain the impression of equal responsibility of all political factors in Bosnia for the impasse in reforms.

“This Declaration simply does not correspond to the factual situation, because on one side we have forces in favour of European principles of functionality and democracy facing forces which are trying in every possible way to maintain an ethno-territorial status quo. The Council of Europe has clearly instructed us that constitutional reforms need to include the abolition of entity voting and the Party for Bosnia has based its position on that instruction. The European Parliament has then instructed us that entity voting can in the future be applied to certain authorities, while in Washington last month we accepted fully the American proposal based on these principles”, Silajdzic’s Cabinet stated.

We have accepted, the statement continues, all attempts at police reform, even when every further attempt seriously deflected from the previously agreed solutions.

“We have rejected the name of the RS Police, but have offered a compromise that would establish the Bosnian Police in the RS. This proposal is fully in line with the instructions of EUPM Chief Vincenzo Coppola who clearly said that for European standards to be met ‘you can have a police in the RS, but not an RS Police’.

We were the only ones on Saturday to accept the OHR proposal for the process of constitutional reform, while other parties either refused to appear at the meeting or offered extensive changes to that agreement. It is clear to the international community that on one side it faces a multiethnic and multiparty structure, which exactly because of that democratic variety in identities and views is more susceptible to pressure, while on the other side it faces a mono-ethnic and mono-party political oligarchy embodied in maximalist demands of one man - Milorad Dodik, who not only does not have relevant opposition, but has SDS or the Serb Radical Party as his only alternative”, Silajdzic’s Cabinet stated.

“Allegations that we are working for a unitary Bosnia lose credibility when one takes into account all the facts from all political work and they are clearly illegitimate when one considers that there cannot be a more unitary concept than the current political and ethnic situation in power in the RS”, the statement reads.

Haris Silajdzic’s statement said that the conclusion that the international community, which is demanding that all in Bosnia opt for European standards of freedom, equality and democracy, needs to direct its criticism at the correct address, rather than at the address of those who take those demands seriously and are trying to implement them in practice.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - More than 100 graduates from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in Kuala Lumpur are now holding very important office in the governmental and non-governmental sectors as well as the business and non-profit sectors in Bosnia. “IIUM graduates can be found among lecturers at different Bosnian universities, managers in banks, big companies and NGOs and experts in ministries and other top-level governmental institutions in Bosnia,” Bosnia IIUM Alumni president Amel Kovacevic said.

They are experts in a wide range of specialisations such as management, psychology, sociology, English and Arabic languages, political science, finance, law, information technology, mass-communications, economy and Islamic sciences.

“They have gained formidable experience from studying at the university with more than 15,000 students from over 90 countries,” he said.

Kovacevic said the objective of the alumni was to contribute to the social dialogue and development in Bosnia.

They were actively involved, among others, in providing scholarship for primary and secondary schoolchildren, IT training for students and teachers apart from humanitarian work in facilitating the return of the Bosnian war refugees, Amel Kovacevic added.

“Thank God. It is very peaceful now,” said Tarik Bukvic, a counsellor at the Department for the United Nations and other International Organisations of the Bosnian Foreign Ministry.

Tarik, who graduated with an Economics degree from the IIUM in 1997, said the biggest challenge that Bosnia faced now was to further develop its economy.

“The unemployment rate is very high. We need to accelerate the economy to provide more job opportunities in the market,” said Tarik.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s official visit to Bosnia today is expected to further enhance economic activities between the two countries.

“The visit will kick-start the wave of economic activities between the two countries,” said Malaysian Ambassador to Serbia Datuk Saw Ching Hong who will act as Special Envoy to Bosnia during the visit.

Saw said lack of knowledge about Bosnia among Malaysian investors could have contributed to the very low economic activities although both countries enjoyed a very cordial relationship.

However, the situation is expected to change when the Malaysian Prime Minister brings along 38 of the cream of Malaysian investors as part of his official delegation during the two-day visit to Bosnia.

After experiencing a four-year Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions that ended in 1995, the landlocked Bosnia , with a population of four million people, is in a state of reconstructing its economy, rising from the ashes of war.

Saw said there were a lot of potentials for Malaysian investors here especially in the dairy and husbandry industries apart from infrastructure.

“Malaysia could use Bosnia, the central European country, as its halal food hub for the European market,” he said.

The Bosmal City Centre and Riverina Mixed Development projects are currently the two visible symbols of Malaysian presence in property development in the Bosnian capital.

Saw said the governments of both countries were also expected to show their commitment to accelerating bilateral economic activities with the signing of an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation in Sarajevo today.

More than 300 businesmen from both countries are expected to attend the Malaysia-Bosnia business luncheon here the same day where the Malaysian Prime Minister is scheduled to deliver his keynote address.

The Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who visited Bosnia 10 years ago as the then Malaysian Foreign Minister, is expected to further enhance the close relationship enjoyed by the two countries when he meets his counterpart, Nikola Spiric, chairman of Bosnia’s Council of Ministers, before both leaders attend the luncheon.

Spiric is scheduled to host a state banquet for the Malaysian Prime Minister at his official residence, Konak Residence, in Sarajevo at the end of the first-day visit.

On the second day, the Malaysian Prime Minister will give a public lecture on Islam Hadhari (Civilisational Islam) at the University of Sarajevo, which will confer him its highest award, the Golden Pin award, for his contribution to the economic development of Bosnia.

He will then open the the Malaysia Mosque in Sarajevo funded by the Malaysian government and perform Friday prayers there before concluding his visit with a tour of the Bosmal City Centre and Riverina projects.

Bosnia is the second leg of Abdullah’s nine-day visit to three nations from June 18 to 26, the other two being Russia and Italy.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - The World Bank approved US$30 million in new financing for Bosnia's forestry, agriculture and rural development, as well as urban infrastructure and services, the World Bank said yesterday.

A soft loan of US$21 million (¤15.6 million) was going to the Agriculture and Rural Development Project, meant to strengthen the efficiency of the country's agricultural services and support programs, the World Bank said in a statement.

An additional grant of US$6 million for the project would be provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.The project facilitates Bosnia's «transformation into a market economy with closer ties with the European Union and will contribute to job creation,» said Goran Bergman, a program officer for the Swedish agency.

Another two, ongoing projects were receiving further financing. The bank approved US$3.35 million toward the implementation of forestry reforms, and US$5 million for The Urban Infrastructure and Services Delivery Project, aimed at improving living conditions, including the quality and reliability of utilities.

The World Bank said it planned in the next few days to approve US$5 million in funding for a new project to help Bosnia minimize the threat of bird flu. All four projects were being financed through soft loans without interest and with a 25-year repayment period, including a 10-year grace period, the World Bank statement said.

Since 1996, the World Bank has committed US$1.1 billion to 52 projects in Bosnia, and has consulted with the Bosnian government on a new partnership strategy for 2008-2011.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Bosnian Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees’ representatives urged the international organizations and institutions to support Bosnian institutions in the process of return. They made this appeal at a press conference in Sarajevo, organized by the Ministry together with the UNHCR representatives. The Ministry will try to ensure as much money as possible through the budget for the return process. The Ministry added that the system of return is a systematic and well-organized process and that nobody should have doubts about the usage of donations.

The return results are encouraging, for over 1 million of people have returned to their homes. The Bosnian Minister of Human Rights and Refugees Safet Halilovic and UNHCR representative James Lynch said that huge efforts need to be put in to ensure the return of 135.000 people. Over 1 billion Bosnian Marks is needed.

Both Halilovic and Lynch said that collective centers in Bosnia need to be closed. The least results were achieved in the process of employment, social and medical care of returnees. About 180.000 people are still refugees in Bosnia and over 400.000 Bosnian citizens are displaced in over 40 countries of the world.

James Lynch said that the Dayton Agreement’s Annex 7 implementation is a matter of discussion. The Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council fiercely discussed the issue on Monday’s session.

Izaim Hadzikadunic was one of the participants at the conference. He is one of the first returnees to the Makljenovac municipality near Doboj. He said that the return was spontaneous and that some people even removed mines on their own.

James Lynch said that June 20 is marked as the International Refugees Day. About 8 million people worldwide have that status.