DIZDAREVIĆ URGES BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO HELP FREE SIX BOSNIAN CITIZENS FROM GUANTANAMO PRISON

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) - Nađa Dizdarević, the wife of Bosnian citizen Hajj Boudel who has been imprisoned for six years at the US prison in Guantanamo, urged yesterday the Bosnian government and international organizations to contribute the implementation of the “return map” for the six Bosnian citizens imprisoned in Guantanamo including her husband.

Dizdarević stated that today,on January 11,peaceful protests will take place in Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Island, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Paraguay, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Great Britain, the United States and Yemen.People assembled at the protests will ask for immediate closure of the Guantanamo prison and end of human rights violations by the U.S. government.

She added that January 11 is the first day a person was imprisoned in Guantanamo and that it is a symbolic cause for protests.

REHN INVITES BOSNIA'S POLITICAL LEADERS TO BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS, Belgium (January 11,2008) – The EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn announced yesterday that the leaders of six most influential political parties in Bosnia would soon be invited to an informal meeting in Brussels.

Although the letter he sent recently to them reads how the purpose of the meeting would be to reach “a better understanding, and continue the dialogue on issues relevant to the topic of Bosnia’s integration with the EU”, sources claim that the issue of constitutional changes would be opened, as well.

This has been confirmed by HDZ 1990 leader Bozo Ljubic, who said that there is no exact date of the meeting yet, but he expects it in February. According to him, Rehn will probably make it clear to Bosnia's political leaders that a Bosnian constitutional reform is a must in the process of Bosnia's integration with the EU.

LAJCAK: BOSNIA HAS NO ALTERNATIVE TO THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (January 11,2008) – The Internationl Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajčák,told yesterday European Union member states that Bosnia must have a clear EU perspective which is credible and understandable for the Bosnian citizens.

He highlighted that there is no alternative to Bosnia's accession to the Union.

Lajcak was addressing an informal meeting of senior officials from EU foreign ministries organized by the Slovenian presidency of the EU.

He presented his assessment of the current political situation in Bosnia, including progress regarding police reform and constitutional reform, and the prospects for meeting the conditions for the signing of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement in the first half of this year.

The Internationl Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia underlined the need for continued EU support in order to take the reform agenda in Bosnia forward.

The informal consultations took place in Brdo pri Kranju near Ljubljana,Slovenia, covering a broad range of foreign policy issues, with the Slovenian Presidency giving particular attention to the Western Balkans countries and their integration in the European Union.

SDP AND BPS SENT A RESOLUTION TO BOSNIAN PARLIAMENT DEMANDING ACCELERATION OF EU ASSOCIATION PROCESSES

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) – Six delegates of the Bosnian State Parliament's House of Representatives (five from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and one from the Bosnian Patriotic Party (BPS) sent yesterday to the parliamentary procedure a Resolution on Accelerating Bosnia's Association Processes to the European Union.

The Resolution is aimed to emphasize the importance of acceleration of the processes and to show determination of the country to decisively go towards the strategic goal – membership to the EU. This was stated yesterday by Denis Becirovic, a delegate and Deputy Head of SDP Party Caucus at the Bonian Parliament's House of Representatives.

Contents of the Resolution clearly emphasized the need of forming a separate group made up of representatives of civil society, governmental and non-governmental institutions and prominent public figures, who would be engaged in the process of implementing the EU association plan.

Reasons for such decision are, according to Becirovic, clearly seen in the general situation in the country.

The SDP Party is of the opinion that, keeping in mind the importance of the topic, this Resolution should be made the first item on the House of Representatives’ session, which is due next week.

The following delegates signed the Resolution: Denis Becirovic, Zlatko Lagumdzija, Jozo Krizanovic, Mirjana Malic, Selim Beslagic and Sefer Halilovic. They have sent the resolution to the Bosnian Parliament's House of Peoples as well.

BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER HARIS SILAJDZIC TO ATTEND ECONOMIC FORUM IN SAUDI ARABIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) - Haris Silajdzic, a member of the Bosnian Presidency , Haris Basic, the head of the Bosnian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) and a board member of the Bosnian Indirect Taxation Authority and Milan Lovric, chairman of the Bosnian Foreign Trade Chamber met yesterday.

Adjustments in the current excise regulations were the main topic of their talks, along with Silajdzic’s participation at the Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia in February 2008.

The three agreed that the present excise policy is having a negative effect on domestic enterprises. In coordination with the Bosnian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency,the Bosnian Foreign Trade Chamber and Bosnian entrepreneurs, a Bosnian business delegation will be formed to accompany Silajdzic in Saudi Arabia, from February 23 to 26.

BRCKO DISTRICT GOVERNMENT PLEDGES TO IMPROVE INVESTOR CLIMATE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) - The Brcko District Government has not summed up the effects of investments in this Bosnian region in the previous year, but head of the local office for economic development claims tens of millions of Bosnian Marks were invested in the Brcko District. The exact figure should be known in a few days, he said.

The Brcko District Government is happy with employment in 2007, as well, and job openings have already been announced for 2008 (200 workers for FIS Vitez shopping centre, for example).

Sarajevo Robot is one of the companies looking to invest in the Brcko District area. As Adnan Drapic said, improving the business environment will be the government priority in 2008, both for local and foreign investors. Croatian Vindija will invest EUR 70 million there in the next three-four years,he said.

HADZIAHMETOVIC: BOSNIA'S POTENTIAL LIES IN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) – According to a professor of the Sarajevo Faculty of Economics, it is not reasonable to expect the global energy market to stabilize before 2009, due to a number of reasons. While some European countries have already adjusted their energy policies to reduce their dependency on energy imports, the problem of Bosnia is not so much her reliance on imports, as much as the inexistence of alternative supply routes, and the lack of oil market mechanisms, so Bosnia is currently subordinated to the interests of other countries.

Situations with oil and gas are similar. However, Bosnia’s potential lies in alternative energy sources, and since the EU is supporting this type of energy generation, it is a development opportunity for the country, professor Azra Hadziahmetovic said, pointing out that Bosnia is the only country in the Southeastern Europe capable of producing more energy than it can consume. At the same time, there is no national energy strategy adopted by the Bosnian government.

BOSNIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND EUFOR SIGNED MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) – A memorandum of understanding has been signed yesterday between the Bosnian Ministry of Defence and the European Union Force in Bosnia (EUFOR), regarding the use of the Bosnian military facilities.

Memorandum was signed by the Commander of EUFOR General Ignacio Villalain and the Bosnian Minister of Defence Selmo Cikotic.

”Purpose of this Memorandum is to set the procedures through which EUFOR would be able to use military facilities of the Bosnian Ministry of Defence for training, exercises, and operation management”, stated the release of the Bosnian Ministry of Defence.

FBIH ENTITY GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR FOOD PRICE INCREASES

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) - The Bosnian Consumer Association stated that the latest bread and flour price increases is the result of the FBIH entity government not keeping their promise from August last year, when the the Bosnian bakery industry was warning about a dropping rate of profitability in the business.

According to the Association’s president, Mesud Lakota, the current FBIH entity government’s main problem is that they act retroactively, first waiting for prices to go up, and then discussing what to do about it.

He also said that the Bosnian citizens no longer accept empty promises and that, if prices of bread and flour remain unchanged, it will not be enough to buy social peace.

However,the FBIH entity government called on the Klas bread company to give up on the announced increase of bread prices. As the FBIH Entity Prime Minister Nedzad Brankovic said, Klas and the entire bakery industry have been invited again to discuss “realistic parameters” for increasing the basic price of bread, based on the increased input costs.

“There is no need for increases this substantial”, Brankovic said, adding how he regrets that Klas acted one-sidedly and stepped out of the previous agreement. He also said how the Government has instrument available to control prices of bread in the following months, or until the harvest.

BOSNIAN LARGEST PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY EXPECTS SIGNIFICANT RISE IN REVENUE IN 2008

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (January 11,2008) - Bosnia's largest pharmaceutical company Bosnalijek expects revenue and exports to rise this year by 20 and 70 percent respectively, its general manager said yesterday.

The firm, which has a 23 percent market share, posted 2006 revenue of 88 million Bosnian Marks (66.1 million US Dollars), a 4 percent rise on the previous year while exports increased by 25 percent, Edin Arslanagic told a press conference in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

"We will continue the strong performance this year after Bosnalijek added new markets for some of its 200 products in Kazakhstan, Congo, Azerbaijan, Algeria and Cameroon." he said.

He added that the firm already exports to many Balkan and former Soviet Union states, as well as to Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

Bosnalijek suffered heavy damage during the the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia and was Bosnia's sole drug company until early 2003.

The government of the FBIH entity, last year swapped a 9 percent stake in Bosnalijek for its $12.9 million debt to Libya.

It still holds a 19.8 percent stake in the firm, while 9.4 percent belongs to the World Bank's private equity arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the remainder to employees and investment funds.

The FBIH entity government has said it planned to offer its remaining stake for sale on the Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE).

"Such move could help increase our competitiveness," said Arslanagic and added that company is looking for a strategic partner.

Bosnalijek's shares were among the top traded on the SASE in 2007 and its market value stood at 285 million Bosnian Marks (214 million US Dollars), an increase of 27 percent on the year before, Arslanagic said.