BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Bosnian government adopted the Bill Changing and Amending the Law on Bosnian Customs Tariff, proposed by the Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.

The Bill, containing the new customs tariff, will be sent to the parliamentary procedure. Apart from this law, among other, the zero customs rate has been proposed for the health and civil aviation, as well as lowered customs tariffs for some goods used for production of domestic products.

The customs tariff adopted in 1997, amended in 2002, does not meet the current needs of the Bosnian economy.

Adoption of this law will influence the decrease in customs incomes for about 74,5 million Bosnian Marks (52,8 million USD) per year, but will also stimulate production and employment in Bosnia and increase the Bosnian state budget.

The Bosniam Council of Ministers adopted the report of the workgroup in charge of the old foreign exchange savings and confirmed amendments to the Bill Changing and Amending the Law on Debt Settlement on the Basis of the Old Foreign Exchange Savings Accounts, which will be sent to the parliamentary procedure.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers concluded that the Bosnian Ministry of Finances and Vault should consider and initiate activities in the entities and the Brcko District to find an acceptable model of non-engagement of the CBBH escrow account on the basis of succession (about USD 35 million), for the purpose of opening the foreign exchange savings accounts at the domicile banks.

The Ministry will instruct the entity ministries and the Brcko District to initiate procedures of verification revision. They will also initiate activities related to the nomination of representatives to the workgroup which will be in charge of resolving the old foreign exchange savings account issues in the non-domicile banks. All proposals are to be submitted to the Council of Ministers.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers also passed a Decision Changing and Amending the Decision on Forming the Bosnian State Commission for Revision of decisions on Naturalization of Foreign Citizens.

The Council also passed a Decision on the Allocation of Funds from the Portion of the Budget Intended for Special Needs, proposed by the Bosnian Ministry of Civil Affairs. the Bosnian Ministry of Finances and Vault and Ministry of Civil Affairs are in charge of the implementation of this Decision.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers passed a decision on Forming the Bosnian Council for Children, proposed by the Bosnian Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees.

The Council of Ministers also determined Proposal of the Basis for Negotiations and Signing the Agreement on Education between Bosnia and Montenegro.The Proposal will be sent to the Bosnian Presidency for procedure.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers determined Proposal of the Basis for Negotiations for Signing the Agreement Changing and Amending the Agreement on Economic Cooperation between Bosnia and Slovenia.

The Council also considered and adopted the Information related to the Implementation of the Law on Implementation of Measures for Efficient Implementation of ICJ Mandate.

The Council also adopted Information of the Bosnian Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees on applications of Lakhdar Boumediene, Hadj Boudella, Mustafa Ait Idir, Mohamed Nechla, Belacem Bensayah and Saber Lahmar against Bosnia at the European Court for Human Rights.

The Bosnian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to send a letter to the US government asking guarantees that the applicants Lakhdar Boumediene, Hadj Boudella, Mustafa Ait Idir, Mohamed Nechla, Belacem Bensayah amd Saber Lahmar will not be sentenced to death and will not be inhumanely treated by the US government.

The Bosnian Ministry of Justice has been ordered to urgently initiate and participate in the joint activities of the Bosnian state ministries of human rights and refugees in realization of Conclusion 7 of the Bosnian Council of Ministers session held on April 19 2007 related to realization of the process of return of citizens and former Bosnian residents from the Guantanamo prison.

The Bosnian Minister of Human Rights has been ordered to submit the report on the process of return within 2 months.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers also adopted a list of actions Bosnia should implement prior to finalizing the report on Bosnia's progress in the SAA process for 2007. It contains 27 activities important for the final stages of realization, the Bosnian Council of Ministers’ Office for Public Relations announced.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – A member of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic and members of a General Electric Company delegation led by Jeffrey Wiener discussed in Sarajevo potential investments by this American company in Bosnia and the expansion of its presence at the Bosnian market.

Wiener informed Silajdzic about the intentions of General Electric, which is primarily interested in investing in hydropower energy production project and the construction of wind generators.

“We are in contact with Intrade Energy, which is a company we are supporting in the development of energy projects”, Wiener said and stressed that the technologies General Electric is working with are state of the art, and that special attention is dedicated to the protection of the environment.

Silajdzic reminded representatives of General Eelctric that Bosnia possess vast energy potentials and that the time has come to start concrete work on specific projects.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Association for Protection of the Bosnian Foreign Exchange Savings Clients sent a demand to the Bosnian Presidency for initiating a procedure of protection of constitutionality of foreign exchange savings clients related to the breech of their rights to property, rights to trial at the independent court in a reasonable time frame and discrimination generated by the Law Changing and Amending the Law on Debt Settlement on the Basis of the Old Foreign Exchange Savings.

The association stated in the letter that the Bosnian government sent the law to the parliamentary procedure and that it has gone through the first reading at the Bosnian Parliament’s House of Representatives.

The Bill Changing and Amending the Law on Debt Settlement on the Basis of the Old Foreign Exchange Savings, prepared by the Bosnian Council of Ministers, is causing far greater consequences compared to the previous law and the bill proposed by delegate Tihomir Gligoric.

It took 2,5 years for the Bosnian State Court to submit the case to the Sarajevo Municipal Court.

The association is of the opinion that there is no adequate system of protection for the Bosnian foreign exchange savings clients in Bosnia, which resulted in them turning to the Strasbourg’s Human Rights Court.