LJUBLJANA, Sept 9 (Hina) - Members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency on Tuesday afternoon ended their officials visit to Ljubljana with a conference of businessmen from Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina held in the Slovene Chamber of
Commerce.
LJUBLJANA, Sept 9 (Hina) - Members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina
Presidency on Tuesday afternoon ended their officials visit to
Ljubljana with a conference of businessmen from Slovenia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina held in the Slovene Chamber of Commerce. #L#
During their three-day visit to Slovenia it was concluded that
there was a great possibility for the continuation of economic
cooperation. The two countries' officials agreed that the only open
issue in the bilateral relations was the issue of the old savings
account of the Ljubljanska Bank Sarajevo clients. The bank owes its
clients in Bosnia some EUR45 million.
Slovene president Janez Drnovsek, who attended the business
conference, called on Slovene companies to continue investing in
Bosnia. The amount of Slovene investments in Bosnia will reach
EUR200 million at the end of this year, but the problems is Bosnia's
high deficit in foreign trade. Bosnia's overall trade deficit in
the last ten years rose US$3 billion.
"Bosnia is very interested in cooperation with Slovenia which will
soon join the EU. The difficulties are the trade deficit and the
former Ljubljanska Bank Sarajevo clients," the chairman of the
Bosnian Presidency, Dragan Covic said. He added that him and the
Slovene Prime Minister Anton Rop agreed to set up a commission
comprised of financial, banking and legal experts who will try to
find a solution to the Ljubljanska Bank Sarajevo problem.
Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said during talks with his
Bosnian counterpart Mladen Ivanic that his country would continue
to support Bosnia after it joins the EU in its bids to draw closer to
Euro-Atlantic associations.
(hina) it