SARAJEVO, Nov 17 (Hina) - High-ranking officials of people's and central banks of Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Slovenia, and Macedonia agreed in Sarajevo on Friday it was necessary to accelerate succession to property of the People's
Bank of the former Yugoslav federation, starting negotiations on concrete steps to that effect.
SARAJEVO, Nov 17 (Hina) - High-ranking officials of people's and
central banks of Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Slovenia, and
Macedonia agreed in Sarajevo on Friday it was necessary to
accelerate succession to property of the People's Bank of the
former Yugoslav federation, starting negotiations on concrete
steps to that effect.#L#
The Sarajevo meeting confirmed the stand of Yugoslavia's new
authorities that the five states established after the break-up of
the ex-Yugoslavia a decade ago would be treated as equal successors
to its property, the governor of Bosnia's central bank told
reporters.
"Today we have begun concrete talks on the division of property of
the People's Bank of the former (federation). Prevalent at this
conference was the spirit of good cooperation and we shall resume
the talks in Belgrade in two weeks," said governor Peter Nicholl.
Milan Dinkic, special envoy of Yugoslavia's deputy prime minister,
said the new authorities in Belgrade did not consider Yugoslavia
the sole successor to the former federation. "We believe such an
approach opens the doors to a faster resolution of the succession
issue," he said.
Dinkic however pointed out the succession to the entire property
was a long and complex process, saying it had been agreed to tackle
the issue in parts, with priority going to the division of property
stored in Basel's International Bank for Settlements. According to
current estimates, the bank contains gold and other valuables worth
about $400 million.
Croatia is counting on some $118 million, national bank deputy
governor Tomislav Presecan told Hina.
"The important thing is that today Mr. Dinkic confirmed that
Yugoslavia abandoned the principle it represented until now. This
now makes it possible to discuss the division of some aspects of the
property," he said, adding conditions for serious negotiations had
finally been created.
"Now we can negotiate the division of foreign currency reserves of
(ex-Yugoslavia's) People's Bank, which is definitely a very big
step forward," Presecan said.
(hina) ha jn