BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi, who is in an official visit to Bosnia, visited the University of Sarajevo Rectorate yesterday and met with the Sarajevo University representatives. He held a lecture “Plural Society and Nation Development”.

The Malaysian Prime Minister talked about the best ways of achieving economic and social development of a country and stated that Malaysia is a good example of that.

Multi-religious and multicultural characteristics are something that both the countries have in common. The secret of Malaysian success lies in cherishing the national development, especially of the three major ethnic groups. It is very important to create a group of principles in order to build a stabile country.

Badawi categorically emphasized that coexistence and mutual respect are the key of success.Malaysia has a specific system of government in which the authorities pass the decisions on the basis of compromise and in that way,and no ethnic group is marginalized.

Malaysia has focused a lot on education. The main goal was to create equal opportunities for everyone, including the poor people.Badawi is of the opinion that his country is development-oriented. The need to ensure equal distribution of wealth is a constant challenge.

One of the goals of Malaysia is to create a progressive, Islamic principles-based community. There, minority groups, multiethnic society, liberty and prejudice-free society will be cherished.

He is of the opinion that Bosnia needs to develop its own plan of progress, which means making short-term and concrete plans, along with the mid-term and long-term goals. Balance between all layers of society is crucial.

”International Community needs to understand that Bosnia's peace cannot be achieved without concrete solutions. Building of nation needs to be the result of joint efforts of the people of this country”, he said.

The Malaysian Prime Minister confirmed that there is a friendly relationship between the two countries and emphasized the need of economic cooperation.

The University of Sarajevo Rector Prof Dr Faruk Caklovica introduced Badawi to Sarajevo University history and plans. He said that Malaysia is a country which has greatly contributed the Bosnian education. He later presented to the Malaysian Prime Minister the Golden Pin Award – the institution’s highest honour.

The Malaysian Prime Minister ended his two-day official visit to Bosnia today and left for Italy.

Malaysia and Bosnia signed the Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income between the two governments, yesterday.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – Director of the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Office Mahmoud Aly delivered to representatives of the Bosnian Red Crescent/Red Cross yesterday a check to 25.000 USD. The money will be used for supporting the users of the Home Care Program in all parts of Bosnia and for the immediate needs of the Bosnian Red Crescent/Red Cross Association.

15.000 USD will be used for 1.350 food packages for the elderly, weak and those in the state of social need in Bosnia, while 10.000 USD is intended for the immediate needs of the Association.

The donation is a result of years of successful cooperation between the Bosnian Red Crescent/Red Cross and the UAE Red Crescent, which has so far supported the Bosnian Association on numerous occasions.

It previously provided a significant donation of 30.000 USD for the reconstruction of the the Bosnian Red Crescent/Red Crosss building in the centre of Sarajevo. 2 million Bosnian Marks (1,373,274 USD) is needed for the reconstruction of this building and activities on raising funds for these purposes are currently underway.

A delegation of the Bosnian Red Crescent/Red Cross visited Red Crescent Associations in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in February and March this year.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – In period from January till May, 32.840 workers have been employed via the employment bureaus and services in Bosnia, which represents a rise in 9.794 newly employed workers or 42, 49 percent in comparison to the same period last year. There were 658.058 registered employed workers in Bosnia in April, and 256.053 of them were women, was stated at a press conference of the Bosnian Agency for Labor and Employment.

Director of the Agency Huso Saric said that 529.733 persons were registered on the records of the employment services in late May, which represents a drop in 3.101 persons in comparison to the end of April.

Of the total number of registered unemployed workers in May (249.816), there were 11.528 newly registered unemployed workers, while the total of 14.728 workers were erased from the records of the employment services in the same month.