Ivanic received the visa a few days after other members of the Bosnian government delegation. It was speculated that he might be denied it after in December 2004 the US administration black-listed officials of the Bosnian Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and the Democratic Progress Party (PDP), of which Ivanic is a member.
The two parties, which constitute the ruling coalition in the Serb entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, have been accused of insufficient cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
An unnamed Foreign Ministry source told FENA news agency that the issuing of a visa to Ivanic was never questionable and that this was why the ministry did not want to comment on media reports according to which the Serb official would not be able to travel to New York.