FEDERAL LOWER HOUSE DISCUSSES SPECIAL RELATIONS AGREEMENT

SARAJEVO, Nov 18 (Hina) - The Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina parliament's House of Representatives on Wednesday held a special session discussing the course of the drafting and adjustment of a special relations agreement between the Federation and Croatia. The initialled agreement was supposed to be signed in Zagreb last Monday, but the Bosniak-Muslim side failed to appear. Prior to today's session, the President of the Croat-Muslim Federation, Ejup Ganic, consulted most benches in the federal parliament. He said most had supported his suggestion that today's discussion be as thorough as possible. "The suggestions I expect in today's discussion will benefit further activities related to (the special relations) agreement, in particular in view of reaching a decision on its signing, and in preparations and negotiations on future annexes which elaborate this framework agreement," said Ganic. He added, "The special relations agreement represents one aspect of realisation of the Dayton peace agreement, and determines only the legal framework for all aspects of cooperation between the Federation of BH and the neighbouring country (Croatia)." "I assure you the agreement is compliant with the peace agreement, the Constitution of BH and the Constitution of the Federation of BH," Ganic stressed. He believed today's discussion would help in finding a "mutually acceptable solution to (the) delicate issue of establishing parallel relations." The federal parliament will decide on the ratification of the agreement subsequently. Representatives of the Bosnian Party (BS) and the Social Democratic Party said today's session should not have been called, since the parliament should discuss the agreement only after it was signed. BS president Mirnes Ajanovic said today's session could only discuss Ganic's replacement. He blamed Ganic for the diplomatic incident caused by the non-arrival of BH representatives to sign the agreement. He said BH Presidency chairman Alija Izetbegovic was also responsible for the new situation. The parliament decided by public voting that the proposal of Ganic's replacement would not be discussed today. (hina) ha jn