BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - Zeljko Komsic took over the chairmanship of the Bosnian State Presidency yesterday, replacing Nebojsa Radmanovic.Zeljko Komsic was elected to the Bosnian State Presidency on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party.

Turning over the chairmanship to Komsic, Radmanovic said his term in office was successful, but not all goals have been fulfilled “because of the political climate” in the country. The international community has insisted on police and constitutional reforms as a precondition for Bosnia’s advances towards the European Union, but politicians have failed to come to an agreement.

“These disagreements and the lack of compromise on major issues for Bosnia have slowed down our drive on the road to the EU,” Radmanovic said. The Bosnian Presidency makes decisions by consensus and Komsic was likely to run into similar obstacles during his term.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Bosnian government defined the Bill amending the Law on Ministries and Other Bodies of the Bosnian Administration.

The Bosnian Minister of Finance and Treasury Dragan Vrankic told a press conference that the adoption of the law would enable transferring of the Section in charge of coordinating international economic assistance, except for EU assistance, from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations into the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

According to him, this would provide for continuous activities in this sector, updating of public investment programs and database on international assistance.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers issued the Decision to terminate the Decision on criteria for setting financial compensation for members of commissions and other bodies under jurisdiction of the Council of Ministers, which was published in the Official Gazette 27/029.

Vrankic said that in this way the payment of compensations for working in commissions of the Council of Ministers and the ministries will cease as of July 1.

“Apart from this, there is another ongoing activity, and this is passage of the law on salaries. This domain is not ordered, we have three different approaches and we wish to do this in a single manner so that I expect the draft law to be forwarded before the Council of Ministers very soon”, said Vrankic.

According to him, another area that is not properly ordered refers to compensations, commissions and engagement by certain officials of the Bosnian Council of Ministers and outside the Council of Ministers into certain commissions and bodies.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers has also adopted three agreements that will provide for establishing of the religious service in the Bosnian Ministry of Defence and the Bosnian Armed Forces and authorized Defense Minister Selmo Cikotic to sign these agreements with representatives of religious communities.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers defined the Proposal decision to appoint Commission for Refugees and Displaced Persons, which will be forwarded to the Bosnian State Presidency for adoption.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers has also adopted a conclusion to establish a taskforce for designing the State strategy for resolving the cases of war crimes and resolving the issues related with war crimes.

Representatives of the Bosnian State Ministries of Justice, Finance and Treasury and Security, the Bosnian HJPC,the Bosnian Prosecutor’s Office,the Bosnian State court, the Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA),the Entity Ministries of Justice and Finance and Brcko District will appoint their members of the taskforce.

At proposal of these institutions, the State Minister of Justice will appoint the taskforce for designing the State strategy.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - A member of the Bosnian Presidency,Nebojsa Radmanovic,met with a delegation of the Commission to preserve Bosnian national monuments. The Commission comprises local and foreign experts.

The Commission informed Radmanovic in detail about the current state and future plans regading this area. They also discussed the materialization of numerous projects aimed at reconstruction of monumental treasure. The Commission especially stressed the importance of preparation of the nomination file and management plan for successful inscription of Mehmed-pasha Sokolović Bridge on the World Heritage List.

The Commission members expressed their thanks to Radmanović on his personal engagement, adding that without support from the Bosnian Presidency members it would be impossible to materialize numerous projects and tasks.

It was also said that the Commission worked intensively on preparation for nomination of ensemble of the natural and historical center of Jajce, which comprises 17 objects.

During the conversation, the interlocutors emphasized the necessity to introduce laws and define budget for management of World Heritage monuments, according to the Convention on World Heritage. In this way, the conditionds would be created for the national heritage to be the key development resource in our country.

At the end of the meeting, Radmanović expressed his thanks to all the members of the Commission for their selfless efforts, especially to foreign experts, and said he hoped that Sweden and Turkey, as well as other countries, would continue giving assistance and support in the process of materialization of the projects of protection of the overall cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia. In this respect, the Bosnian Presidency would keep supporting the scheme and programme of the Commission to preserve national monuments,Radmanovic said.