OSCE CONTINUES ITS EFFORT TO DECREASE MILITARY EXPENDITURE IN B-H

SARAJEVO, May 21 (Hina) - Based on an initiative by the Organisation for European Stability and Cooperation's Mission to B-H (OSCE), Bosnian Muslim member of the Bosnian presidency, Alija Izetbegovic submitted a statement indicating the most significant donor members supplying military equipment to the B-H Military Federation. According to Izetbegovic's statement submitted Friday via the OSCE mission and released to Hina, the most significant resources for this programme have come from Saudi Arabia, the United Arabic Emirate, Kuwait, Malaysia and Brunei. At the same time, the most significant military equipment received by the B-H Federation arrived from the US while various forms of assistance in the form of training programmes were ensured by Turkey, Pakistan, Germany and Malaysia, Izetbegovic noted. In a press release by the OSCE mission to B-H, it is noted that the mission's head Robert Barry and the chief of the department for regional stability, General Bjorn Karlsson have in the past few weeks held a series of meetings with the aim of decreasing the military expenditure in that country and how to improve its transparency. Ambassador Barry and General Karlsson informed B-H officials that high military costs in the country discouraged foreign investors.