OFFICIAL: EU HAS INVESTED SOME DM 400 MILLION IN MOSTAR SO FAR

MOSTAR, Sept 27 (Hina) - A head of the European Union's delegation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hansjorg Kretschmer, on Tuesday said the EU had to date invested about 400 million German marks into the reconstruction of the southern city of Mostar, and stressed that no other town in Bosnia had received so great means. Kretschmer held a meeting with Mostar Mayor Safet Orucevic and Deputy Mayor Neven Tomic, supporting their endeavours to unite this city, divided during the war. Kretschmer warned that forces in Mostar and in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton which were continuing to pursue a policy of the ethnic division, would not succeed in their plans. During his stay in Mostar, he also met the head of Herzegovinian friars, Friar Tomislav Pervan. Asked why he did not hold a meeting with the (Catholic) Bishop of Mostar, Msgr. Ratko Peric, this EU diplomat answered that Peric refused to receive the international community's representatives. Criticising such move of the Bishop, Kretschmer said anybody who was not willing to meet others was also not prepared to hold a dialogue. Such conduct leads to "the autistic isolation", Kretschmer added. (hina) ms