BH SALUTES CRO'S ANNOUNCEMENT TO CHANGE OIL TRANSIT REGULATION

SARAJEVO, Jan 19 (Hina) - An announcement made by Premier Ivica Racan that a regulation on restricting oil transport through Croatia will soon be changed, opened a possibility for a fast solution to a dispute in relations with Bosnia caused by the decision. The Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities saluted Croatian government's readiness to solve the issue of the transport of oil and oil products through direct negotiations. "We salute the Croatian government's move which confirms its readiness for constructive dialogue", Bosnian Foreign Ministry spokesman Amer Kapetanovic told Hina. He also added Racan and the chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, Zlatko Lugumdzija, discussed the issue over the phone Friday night. "The two premiers agree that any politicisation of the issue needs to be neutralised and the coming negotiations need to be used for deciding about a joint mechanism to fight oil trafficking" Kapetanovic said. Official Sarajevo has no doubts the Croatian government's regulation in dispute would be rescinded, and also considers it a good opportunity for improving the cooperation between the two countries in the field of the fight against oil smuggling. Estimates made by the BH Federation Customs speak about dozens of million German marks of unreported customs and tax fees which should be paid on oil import. Concrete negotiations on the transport of oil through Croatia are expected at the beginning of next week. (hina) np