SARAJEVO, Nov 11 (Hina) - The post-war recovery of Bosnia-+Herzegovina's economy is very slow and the international community +is not satisfied with what has been achieved so far in that field, +Deputy High Representative for economic
issues Didier Fau said on +Wednesday.+ Speaking at a press conference in Sarajevo, Fau assessed the +current economic situation in the country as not particularly good +but also not very bad.+ High Representative Carlos Westendorp's deputy said that the most +serious obstacle to a speedier economic development was the lack of +foreign investments.+ There will be no foreign investments until the process of +privatisation has been completed, he added.+ Foreign investments are a pre-condition for the revival of economy +and Bosnia-Herzegovina is still not ready for them, said Fau.+ Fau's criticism was directed primarily at the Croat-Muslim +authorities in the F
SARAJEVO, Nov 11 (Hina) - The post-war recovery of Bosnia-
Herzegovina's economy is very slow and the international community
is not satisfied with what has been achieved so far in that field,
Deputy High Representative for economic issues Didier Fau said on
Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Sarajevo, Fau assessed the
current economic situation in the country as not particularly good
but also not very bad.
High Representative Carlos Westendorp's deputy said that the most
serious obstacle to a speedier economic development was the lack of
foreign investments.
There will be no foreign investments until the process of
privatisation has been completed, he added.
Foreign investments are a pre-condition for the revival of economy
and Bosnia-Herzegovina is still not ready for them, said Fau.
Fau's criticism was directed primarily at the Croat-Muslim
authorities in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose
internal problems additionally complicated the privatisation
process.
Another problem is that privatisation agencies have not been
established in all cantons, Fau said mentioning the example of a
privatisation agency in Mostar (southern BH).
There must be a single united agency for Mostar but the interested
parties have not been able to reach an agreement on that issue so
far, he said.
Fau further announced that the privatisation process would
certainly include the revision of all activities which had been
carried out in keeping with the laws of the former Yugoslav state.
The cases where privatisation had been carried out on the basis of
dubious ownership relations or sources of capital will be
investigated as well.
We will have to establish who the true owners of the Mostar company
"Aluminij", the Neum hotel, and the Sarajevo hotel "Grand",
("Bosnia") are, Fau said.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR) intends to investigate
the situation in the Mostar aluminium factory in order to prevent
attempts at discrimination against workers, Fau added warning
though that the issue was rather complex.
Discrimination of workers cannot be tolerated but it should also be
known that it is impossible for all pre-war employees of this or any
other factory to be re-employed, because market conditions have
changed, he said.
(hina) mm rml/sp