HIGH REPRESENTATIVE DOESN'T PLAN TO CLOSE ALUMINIUM SMELTERY

MOSTAR, March 7 (Hina) - The Mostar-based regional branch office of the High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Wednesday denied allegations published by the press that the international community's High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch was planning to discontinue the production in the aluminium smeltery in this southern city as a counter-measure following last Saturday's decision of the Croat National Assembly to declare self-government in Bosnian area populated mainly by Croats. The High Representative assures the Mostar smeltery's workers that he has no intention of closing the plant," a spokeswoman for the branch office told reporters in Mostar on Wednesday. Thus, the High Representative's Office has responded to an open letter forwarded by the workers' union that asked Petritsch to distance himself in public from the information in the media. "One of the goals of the High Representative and his Office (OHR) is to support the recovery of the economy and not to work against it," the spokeswoman Avis Benesh explained. She added that the High Representative's acts had never been directed against any people but against individuals who worked against the people in concern. (hina) sb ms