SARAJEVO, 22 July (Hina) - The international community wants the forthcoming donors' conference on the reconstruction of Bosnia- Herzegovina to be a complete success, said Duncan Bullivant, spokesman for the Office of the High
Representative in Sarajevo.
BULLIVANT
SARAJEVO, 22 July (Hina) - The international community wants the
forthcoming donors' conference on the reconstruction of Bosnia-
Herzegovina to be a complete success, said Duncan Bullivant, spokesman
for the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo. #L#
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Bullivant stressed that
both Bosnian entities, particularly Republika Srpska, urgently need
money to revive their production and create better living conditions for
common people. However, he warned that donor-countries would be the ones
to decide how much money each entity would become.
Although High Representative Carlos Westendorp himself stated last
week that the granting of economic assistance would still be made
conditional on cooperation in implementing the Dayton agreement, his
spokesman today explained that this did not refer to the hand-over of
war crimes suspects.
It is a political aim and it cannot be achieved by setting economic
conditions, Bullivant said.
The European Union earlier stated that the Serb entity could not
count on any form of help, except humanitarian, until Radovan Karadzic
was handed over to the Hague Tribunal.
After a session held on Monday, co-chairmen of the Bosnian Council
of Ministers, Haris Silajdzic ad Boro Bosic told reporters they were
leaving for Brussels conference, scheduled for 23 and 24 July, with
their stands completely harmonised.
"We expect this conference to secure initial means for starting the
economic production in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the creation of new jobs and
the return of displaced persons and refugees," Silajdzic said.
It is expected that some 40 officials from Bosnia's two entities
will attend the conference. Their task is to present to potential donors
the strategy of economic development of Bosnia-Herzegovina and offer
concrete reconstruction projects which are to be financed.
The donors' conference was postponed several times as the
international community did not want to give money until one central
bank and one joint currency are established in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The
Bosnian Serb entity had been opposing the request for several months.
The conference in Brussels is a second meeting of donors who
expressed readiness to help in the reconstruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina
after the signing of the Dayton agreement.
Last year's conference resulted in the granting of 1,3 billion
dollars, but to date less than US $400 million have been realised. The
largest portion of the money was invested into projects in the
Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Republika Srpska got less than
2% of the assets, mostly because of the unwillingness of its leaders to
cooperate with the Hague Tribunal and allow the return of refugees.
Although the average salary in the Federation is still low for
European standards and amounts to some 250 German marks, the situation
in the Serb entity is even worse. According to some indicators, the
small number of employees in Republika Srpska receive their salaries
each three to four months and the salaries often amount to less than 50
German marks.
The behaviour of some Bosnian Serb leaders will influence the
decisions of the Brussels conference and the help which is to be
allocated to the Serb entity, said U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations, Bill Richardson, during his recent visit to Sarajevo.
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