"Schroeder stressed Germany would continue to support Bosnia's drawing closer to Euro-Atlantic associations and expressed conviction the European Commission would adopt a positive decision on the start of Bosnia's negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA)," the statement said.
Schroeder also met the international community's High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, with whom he discussed the European Union's military involvement in Bosnia. According to the statement, it was stressed that Germany's contribution to EU-led military forces (EUROFOR) was significant.
Ashdown and Schroeder also talked about Bosnia's progress in meeting conditions for the start of the SAA talks and Bosnia's joining NATO's Partnership for Peace programme, the Office of the High Representative reported. The two officials also talked about the radio and television system in Bosnia and advocated the establishment of a unified and economically sustainable public radio and television system, Ashdow's office said.
Schroeder and Ashdown reiterated that the extradition of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was a condition for Bosnia's admission into the Partnership for Peace programme.