SARAJEVO, Dec 16 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that Minister Mladen Ivanic was travelling to Israel on 17 December for a three-day official visit.
SARAJEVO, Dec 16 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's Foreign Ministry on
Tuesday said that Minister Mladen Ivanic was travelling to Israel
on 17 December for a three-day official visit. #L#
The information on the visit of Bosnia's minister and economy
delegation was released a day after Ivanic himself confirmed that a
political problem was made out of his visit because of the
Palestinian issue.
According to Ivanic, the Palestinian embassy in Sarajevo insisted
that the Bosnian delegation's meeting with Palestinian President
Yassar Arafat be added to the schedule of the three-day visit. On
the other hand, this was unacceptable for the Israeli authorities,
he said.
The Muslim member of Bosnia's three-man presidency, Sulejman
Tihic, supported the Palestinian request and asked for a
postponement of Ivanic's trip to Israel if he would not meet
Arafat.
Tihic was quoted by the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily as saying
that many diplomats from Arab countries in Sarajevo expressed
opposition to Ivanic's departure to Israel under the current
circumstances.
Bosnia and Israel established diplomatic ties in 1997, and Bosnia's
embassy in Tel Aviv was set up in 2000. Israel's Ambassador to
Bosnia is based in Budapest.
(hina) ms sb