VISEGRAD GROUP SUPPORTS BOSNIA'S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 13,2008) - Political representatives of the countries members of the Visegrad Group expressed full support to the EU perspective of Bosnia and invited Bosnia's political leaders to put more efforts on implementation of key reform on Euro-Atlantic road.

After the meeting with the Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Alkalaj in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, they greeted the signing of Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Bosnia and the EU with remark that this progress is irreversible and very important step on the road of Bosnia towards EU membership.

"Our joint goal is to ensure for Bosnia to become prosperous, peaceful and modern state on irreversible road towards European integrations," said Witold Sobkow, Visegrad Group representative and political director at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the press-conference.

The Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Alkalaj said that they talked during the meeting about the issue of the constitutional reform, census in 2011 and OHR status.

The Bosnian State Presidency members also had talks with delegation of the Visegrad Group. The Bosnian Presdent Haris Silajdžić thanked member countries of the Visegrad Group for the support it has been giving Bosnia on its path to the EU membership.

He stressed that there was a lack of interest of certain countries for Bosnia, stating that the country would like to implement reforms and join the EU. However, he said that on this path generalization and neutrality of the international community were not encouraging.

The Bosnian Presidency member Željko Komšić stressed that he was appreciative of the interest that member countries of the Visegrad Group were showing and of their friendly support.

The Bosnian Presidency member Nebojša Radmanović said that it was high time to start an open discussion on how to solve issues in Bosnia and fulfill the terms from the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

According to Radmanović, the responsibility for current state rests not only with Bosnia, but also with the international community.

Soblokow has, in the name of delegation, expressed the support of the Visegrad Group to Bosnia on its path to the EU membership, and stated that he appreciated the progress made and implemented reforms. He said he hoped that Bosnia would follow this road, because the process of accession to the EU was irreversible. He emphasized that acceleration on the path to the EU must not be lost, and it was the right time to overcome the differences.

Visegrad Group was formed on February 15th 1991 in the Hungarian town of Visegrad.The Visegrad Group, also called the Visegrad Four or V4, is an alliance of four Central European states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – for the purposes of cooperation and furthering their European integration.
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