US senators call on Bosnian leaders to show unity

(AFP) – 06-02-10

SARAJEVO — Visiting US senators on Friday called for Bosnian leaders to show unity and resolve an impasse on how the divided country should be governed to help it gain NATO and European Union membership. “(The) United States believes that the only real path to secure a prosperous future (for Bosnia) is European and Euro-Atlantic integration and it’s important that no more time be lost,” Republican senator John McCain told journalists. McCain and independent senator

Joe Lieberman headed a delegation of US senators and and members of congress. They expressed disappointment at the failure of EU- and US-backed talks, held late last year between Bosnia’s Muslim, Croat and Serb leaders, aimed at ending the political deadlock in the Balkan country. Since the 1992-1995 war Bosnia consists of two semi-independent halves — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

They are linked by weak central institutions while each has its own government. The unclear division of authority between the two entities often leads to paralysis of institutions.

The international community has been insisting for years on the reform of the Bosnian constitution to make the country more functional. The Bosnian Serbs, however, have refused any modifications which might reduce their hold on power.

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FM: Iran Keen to Involve in Economic Projects in Bosnia

FARS News Agency  |  08 Feb 2010

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Monday voiced Tehran’s preparedness to involve in economic projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
 
 
Speaking at a meeting with new Bosnian Ambassador to Tehran Amir Haji Kadonij here in Tehran today, Mottaki underlined that Tehran is ready to expand its relations with the Balkans in trade and economic fields.

“The foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on expansion and consolidation of ties with independent states and Bosnia has a special place in this regard,” he added.

Mottaki pointed to Iran’s aids and assistance with the Bosnian nation during the war in the Balkans, and underlined that friendship at times of hardship for a nation paves the way for close friendship in time of peace.

The Bosnian ambassador, who submitted a copy of his credentials to Mottaki during the session thanked the Iranian nation and government’s support for the Bosnian nation, and stressed that the Bosnian people will never forget Iran’s help and assistance.

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US Intel: Balkans threaten European stability

 
 
By MELISSA EDDY
Associated Press
2010-02-03 05:54  
 
 
The top U.S. intelligence official warned Tuesday that persistent ethnic tensions in Bosnia pose the biggest challenge to maintaining stability in Europe.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said in written testimony to lawmakers that animosities among the Balkan nation’s Croat, Muslim and Serb factions are on the rise, and a hardening of their divergent agendas could threaten the stability of the fragile state.

Blair further named Russia’s continued efforts to exercise influence over its former Soviet neighbors, particularly Georgia, as another cause for concern, saying it could pose a threat to relations with Washington. He noted that “sporadic low-level violence” continues in the region, which could spark a return to fighting. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in August 2008 over two breakaway Georgia regions.

Fighting also could flare between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Blair said. The enclave in Azerbaijan has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year conflict that killed about 30,000 people and displaced 1 million before a truce was reached in 1994.

Bosnia remains divided into ethnic ministates _ a Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation _ that were established in 1995 under the Dayton agreement that ended a bitter 3 1/2-year civil war. It is under the leadership of a multiethnic government whose leaders clash regularly over what the country should look like.

Blair said Bosnian Serbs has been reversing some of the changes included in the accord as part of efforts to seek more autonomy for their ministate. This, Blair said “is contributing to growing interethnic tensions.” At the same time the Bosnian Muslims and Croats want to abolish the country’s division so it can progress toward EU membership, Blair said.

“While neither widespread violence nor a formal breakup of the state appears imminent, ethnic agendas still dominate the political process, and reforms have stalled because of wrangling among the three main ethnic groups,” Blair said.

Kosovo, whose Serb minority and ethnic Albanian majority remain at a tense standoff over the still-divided northern sector, also requires continuing US and European attention to maintain stability, Blair said.

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Ankara reaffirms support for Pristina

Feb 03 2010   |  The Sofia Echo
 
 
Full state honours and pledges of support greeted Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu on arrival on a visit to Turkey, media reports said.
 
In Pristina, media said that Sejdiu was assured of Turkey’s continuing support for Kosovo.
 
Turkish president Abdullah Gul said that Turkey supported the efforts of Kosovo authorities to reestablish law and order in the north, and called on the countries of the Balkans region to build good neighbourly relations.
 
“Turkey sees Kosovo as its sister because we have a strong Turkish community there, and this plays a bridging role between the two countries,” Gul said.
 
“We believe that, when the time comes, Kosovo will strongly take its place in the European and Atlantic structures, Nato and the EU,” Gul said, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet website.
 
Gul said that stability and security in the Balkans are of importance to Turkey, Serbian news agency Beta said.
 
Sejdiu said that Turks living in Kosovo and Kosovo citizens in Turkey are the golden bridge of co-operation and friendship between the “two countries”.
 
At an opening ceremony for Ankara University’s Research Centre on Southeast Europe, Sejdiu urged Turkish investors to take part in various sectors of Kosovo’s economy “and to do business in Kosovo without hesitation,” he said.

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Bosnia seeks to enhance economic ties with Pakistan

Daily Times (Pakistan)  |  03 Feb 2010
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Bosnia to Pakistan Armin Limo on Tuesday said Pakistan and Bosnia needed to improve their political and economic relations to promote bilateral trade and investment as the current volume of trade was far below the respective potential of both countries.

The ambassador expressed these views during a meeting with a group of local businessmen.

Several products of Pakistan go to Germany, get a new label and then enter European market including Bosnia costing more to consumers. He stressed for direct trade between Pakistan and Bosnia, which would be more beneficial for the economies and people of both countries.

The Bosnian ambassador said Pakistani businessmen could enter Bosnia by making joint ventures with their Bosnian counterparts. He said many Pakistani products including rice had good potential in Bosnia and Pakistani businessmen should establish direct trade links in Bosnia to grab better market share.

He said Bosnia was organizing the First International Investment Conference and invited Pakistani businessmen to participate in this event to explore more business opportunities by holding B2B meetings with their counterparts.

He thanked the government of Pakistan for providing crucial humanitarian and other support to Bosnia during its wartime.

Local businessmen said Bosnia was still an unexplored market for them. Frequent exchange of business delegations and establishing direct contacts were the options, which should be used to exploit untapped bilateral trade and investment potential in both countries, they said.

Pakistani products including rice, sports goods, surgical instruments, pharmaceutical, leather and textile products were very cheap for Bosnia and Bosnia should enhance imports of these products from Pakistan, they said.

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NATO slashes its Kosovo peacekeeping contingent to 10,000

RIA Novosti  |  31/01/2010
 
NATO said it cut the alliance’s peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo to 10,000 troops.
“Ten thousand soldiers from 32 nations will provide security and stability for the people in Kosovo,” the statement said adding that the remaining contingent will have “a much leaner and more flexible structure.”

Some 14,000 NATO troops were deployed in Kosovo, which on February 17 celebrates two years of its unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia.

The NATO military contingent in Kosovo (KFOR) has been deployed under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 since 1999.

Over 60 countries, including major Western powers, have recognized the independence of Kosovo. The rest of the world, including Russia, China and India, considers Kosovo to be part of Serbia.

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Bosnia’s challenging year ahead

Busness New Europe

Ian Bancroft in Belgrade
February 1, 2010

Bosnia-Herzegovina ended a dismal 2009 fearing the dawn of a new decade. And so it should.

Last year saw Bosnia denied visa liberalisation over a lack of key reforms, refused a Membership Action Plan (Map) by Nato and remain trapped between competing conceptions of the state between the three ethnic groups. Now general elections and a planned referendum by the government of the Bosnian Serb Republic on decisions by the West’s representative in the country threaten to further shake an already fragile political climate. But as is often the case in the Western Balkans, such high politics serves to conceal deepening socio-economic problems. With this fusion of factors fuelling friction and fragmentation, 2010 promises to be Bosnia’s most challenging since the country emerged from the Balkan wars in the mid-1990s.

Amidst misplaced fears about the country’s impending disintegration and the possibility of war, the US and the EU convened Bosnia’s main political leaders at Butmir military camp near Sarajevo in a determined effort to secure constitutional reforms before the end of 2009. Haphazard in both their conception and implementation, the talks were quickly extinguished in the face of divergences over the issue of entity competencies; with the Bosnian Serb Republic eager to safeguard, and even reclaim, the powers granted to it under the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Bosnian war.

Constitutional reform, however, is now a legal imperative after a binding ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Bosnia’s constitution – by preventing, for instance, Jews and Roma from standing for high elected office – is discriminatory. Though Dimitris Kourkoulas, head of the European Commission delegation in Bosnia, has threatened sanctions – including the possible suspension of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (the first step to joining the EU) or the country’s membership in the Council of Europe – if changes are not made before October’s general elections, the present stalemate is unlikely to abate, with politicians reluctant to make contentious compromises that would expose them to criticism from competing parties.

The international community’s capacity for imposing reform, meanwhile, faces its severest test following the Bosnian Serb Republic’s decision to organize a referendum on the Dayton Peace Agreement, in response to the decision of the high representative, Valentin Inzko, to extend the mandate of international judges and prosecutors working on war crimes cases. The Bosnian Serb Republic government continues to insist that Inzko’s mandate does not permit the annulment of decisions taken by Bosnia’s parliamentary assembly, which voted against the extension in October.Citizens of the Bosnian Serb Republic are now likely to be asked, “do you support the Dayton Agreement, and do you oppose the High Representative imposing decisions?”

Though EU member states have reiterated their support to the high representative and denounced all challenges to his authority, competing interpretations of the powers of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) – which was previously slated for closure by the end of 2009 – will ensure further confrontations should the Bonn Powers, as they are commonly known, be employed again.

Same old faces

Such political wrangling continues to mask the country’s dire economic situation. With growth of only 0.6% expected for 2010, following a 3.5% contraction in 2009, jobs continue to evaporate. The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, reiterated that it may not approve the release of the second tranche of Bosnia’s €1.2b stand-by arrangement until its two entities pass disputed laws curtailing transfers of public money to social groups, especially war veterans. The Muslim-Croat Bosnian Federation, with its convoluted cantonal structure and distinct lack of reforms, faces particularly vehement protests as electioneering intensifies.

As Aleksandar Trifunovic, editor-in-chief of Buka magazine, emphasises, “the pre-election campaign has already begun and it is immediately clear that economic issues are not a priority for our politicians, who instead almost exclusively choose to fuel nationalistic intolerance and hatred, which will reach a peak only towards the end of campaigning. The citizens of Bosnia have for years opted for the worst from amongst their ‘own’ national ranks, in order that they would protect them from the worst from the ranks of the ‘others’. Hence, the majority of citizens will continue to vote for the same politicians; the ones who have created this political and socio-economic environment.”

Whilst neighbours Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro make steady progress towards membership of the EU, Bosnia-Herzegovina risks languishing even further behind by the end of 2010. Though a consensus remains around integration itself, the conditions, costs and concessions associated with key reforms, particularly constitutional, conflict with the diverging conceptions that various domestic actors have of Bosnia’s structure. The international community, having reverted to imposition as opposed to inducement, faces its most direct challenge in the form of a referendum on the nature of its engagement. With elections fast approaching and the socio-economic situation deteriorating daily, Bosnia poses a serious challenge for international policy towards the entire Western Balkans.

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Ethiopia Denies Visas to Kosovo Officials

Balkan Insight  |  Belgrade | 29 January 2010 | Bojana Barlovac
 
A Kosovo delegation, led by its Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni, couldn’t attend the African Union council session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia because the delegation members were denied entry visas.

Fonet news agency learned from the Serbian embassy in Addis Ababa that the decision to not issue the visas to the Kosovo delegation came after Serbia’s intervention.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic reportedly thanked his Ethiopian counterpart Seyoum Mesfin on this principled gesture.

Speaking at the opening of the session, Jeremic welcomed the fact that as many as 80 per cent of the member-states of the African Union have not recognised Kosovo’s independence and called on them to maintain their stance.

“We ask all the countries represented in this room which have not recognized Kosovo to stay the course by not accepting Kosovo’s attempted secession. We do so not only in the name of our traditional ties of friendship, but in the name of working together to consolidate a rules-based international order for the 21st century- one in which secession is clearly seen as a dangerous threat, and one in which reaching agreement between the parties is the only legitimate, sustainable way forward,” Jeremic said.

He also recalled the history of strong ties between Serbia and the Non-Aligned Movement, the first session of which was held in Belgrade in 1961.

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Kosovo, Austria sign investment protection treaty

Source: ECIKS
Two ministers from the Government of Kosovo, Minister of Trade and Industry, Lutfi Zhakru and Minister of Economy and Finance, Ahmet Shala, signed in Pristina an agreement for the protection of investments with the Austrian Secretary of State, Reinhold Lopatka.

After the signing, Minister Zharku said that this treaty is very important for Austrian investors who have already invested in Kosovo, as well as to attract new investors from Austria.

“87 Austrian companies are currently operating in Kosovo and their number is growing. We hope that the investment protection treaty will encourage new investors from Austria and other countries,” said Zharku.

State Secretary of Austria, Reinhold Lopatka said that Kosovo and Austria will intensify the cooperation in the future and announced new Austrian investments in Kosovo, particularly in the banking and insurance sector.

During his stay in Kosovo, Reinhold Lopatka has visited several Austrian companies operating there.

“I am happy that we already have the investment protection treaty, and this is also a signal to other Austrian investors to invest in Kosovo. Austria’s government wants to do the best for Kosovo,” said Lopatka.

Kosovo Minister of Economy and Finance, Ahmet Shala said that this agreement shows the progress in Kosovo and the commitment of both Austria and Kosovo towards this progress. He also described the treaty as being according to the EU standards.

This is the first such treaty that Kosovo signs with an EU member country. Such an agreement was signed years ago with the U.S. Government.

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“New Kosovo” will cost EUR 1bln

Source: EMportal, BiH daily news
The price of the New Kosovo project, which was expected to cost about EUR 3bn, will be EUR 1bn, Prime Minister Hashim Thaqi and Minister of Energy Justina Pula Shiroka said at a press conference.

They organized conference a day before the international presentation of the power plant project.

Taqi and Shiroka said that many international companies were interested in investing in this project. The list of companies that will participate at the international conference for New Kosovo shows that great companies from around the world are interested in this project.

Thaqi said that this conference was taking place at the time when the privatization process of the power distribution segment was heading in the right direction. According to him, the Government works on development of this project in cooperation with the World Bank, European Commission and USAID.

The project is an excellent possibility to contribute to the economic development of Kosovo, stability of the energy sector and creation of new employments, added Thaqi.

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