HUNGARY SUPPORTS BOSNIA'S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - The Bosnian State Presidency had a meeting yesterday with Hungary’s Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. The two countries have no open issues, and their economic cooperation needs to grow, the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic said.Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany pledged support yesterday to Bosnia in its bid to move closer to the European Union, but warned it faced a difficult task in reaching the goal.

"It is not easy to fulfill all the tasks that are ahead of Bosnia" on its way to European integration, Gyurcsany told reporters during a visit to the Bosnian capital.

Gyurcsany, whose country joined the European Union in 2004, stressed "Hungary had a much better starting point (than Bosnia) but it still has to work hard."

In a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, Bosnia's Prime Minister Nikola Spiric said that Hungary would be Bosnia’s strategic partner on her path to full membership in the EU and the NATO, and thanked its officials for all the support given so far, especially in the reform of the Bosnian judiciary and security.

Gyurcsány signed a declaration of support for Bosnia's EU accession following his meeting with Spiric.Spiric said he hoped that economic relations between Bosnia and Hungary will strengthen after the agreement is signed.

Bosnia and Hungary will sign an agreement on visa-free regime this autumn, it was said in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo yesterday.

Hungary's Prime Minister said that Hungarian investors are interested in cooperation in energy, telecommunications and tourism, and development projects in road and railway infrastructure and added that customs duties imposed on imports between Hungary and Bosnia will be cancelled in a couple of weeks.

Gyurcsány also said that support for Bosnia's accession to the European Union is not in Hungary's unilateral interest, since Bosnia needs the EU and the EU needs a peaceful and prosperous Bosnia.

Bosnia is to sign a trade-and-aid agreement with the EU on June 16, making it the final country in the region to establish a contractual relationship with the 27-nation union. The Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) is seen as a stepping stone toward the EU membership.
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79 PARTIAL REMAINS AND 2 COMPLETE BODIES OF GENOCIDE VICTIMS FOUND IN SECONDARY MASS GRAVE NEAR SREBRENICA

SREBRENICA, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - Expert team of the Institute for the search of missing persons of Tuzla Canton revealed 79 human remains and two whole bodies of genocide victims in secondary mass grave Pusmulici near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, as it was confirmed by Danica Arapovic Kovac, the Prosecutor of the Tuzla Canton Prosecution.

She added that this is the case of secondary mass grave but that there are indicators that it could be a tertiary mass grave which shows that bodies of Bosnian civilians mass murdered by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor in Srebrenica in July 1995,were relocated twice.

This is a fifth mass grave in the region of Zeleni Jadr out of which, three were examined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia experts.

In July 1995 the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor mass murdered up to 10,000 Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica.The Srebrenica massacre has been deemed by the UN war crimes tribunal and the International Court of Justice to have constituted genocide.

Thousands of bodies of the genocide victims have been uncovered from about 60 mass graves around Srebrenica.
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IMF OFFICE IN BOSNIA WILL NOT CLOSE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - The office of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo will not be closed, but reorganized, the organization’s resident representative Graham Slack said yesterday, after the Governer of the Bosnian Central Bank Kemal Kozaric said in an interview two days ago that the IMF office in Bosnia would shut down.

The IMF office will remain open with the Bosnian Central Bank, but there will be no resident representative of the IMF in Bosnia, Slack explained, adding that there would two or three IMF employees to monitor the economic situation in Bosnia.

Despite repeated IMF warnings, the Bosnian state and entity governments have failed to curb their excessive public spending, which was the main reason why the country was not able to negotiate a new Stand-By arrangement with the IMF for the past four years.

In Wednesday’s interview Governer Kozaric stressed that the IMF, as well as the Bosnian experts, remain concerned over continued excessive public spending as well as by growing inflation caused by galloping global prices of food and fuel.
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TUZLA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OPENS

TUZLA, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - The Tuzla International Airport was inaugurated yesterday with a promotional Bosnian Airlines flight from the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The passengers were a delegation of Bosnian officials and ambassadors.

The Tuzla Canton government invested more than 1.5 million Bosnian Marks in infrastructure and equipment, and the FBIH entity government set aside 2 million Bosnian Marks in 2007 and 2008 budgets.

The airport will be using a part of a nearby military airport in Dubrava, after an agreement regulating this was signed yesterday.
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CROATIAN CIGARETTE MAKER BUYS 600 TONNES OF BOSNIAN TOBACCO A YEAR

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - The Croatian tobacco factory from Rovinj (TDR) buys approximately 600 tonnes of tobacco from Bosnia a year, and the value of that purchase amounts to around 2 million Euros.

Hosting a group of Bosnian reporters at the factory, CEO Davor Tomaskovic said that TDR’s cigarette sales in the market grow by three to seven per cent a year, and the company’s market share in the Southeastern Europe is higher than 27 per cent.

TDR has operated in Bosnia since 1997 and has seven distributors there. The Bosnian cigarette market is estimated to be worth 350 million Euros, and around 150 million Euros of that belongs to the Rovinj factory.
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TRADE EXCHANGE BETWEEN BOSNIA AND SLOVENIA REACHES 1 BILLION EUROS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - Slovenia’s Ambassador to Bosnia Natasa Vodusek has unveiled that the trade exchange between Bosnia and Slovenia has reached 1 billion Euros last year.

To corroborate this piece of information, Vodusek further said that Slovenia’s trade exchange with much bigger Russia amounted to almost the same amount.

However, Slovenia’s wish is to bring more balance in the trade with Bosnia, since her export share is 60 per cent.

Furthermore, Slovenia was Bosnia’s second biggest foreign investor in 2007, and the 143 Slovenian companies operating in Bosnia currently employ more than 10,000 Bosnian citizens.
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BOSNIAN STATE COURT CONFIRMS INDICTMENT AGAINST SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL MILISAV GAVRIĆ FOR GENOCIDE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - The Bosnian State Court has confirmed the Indictment against Serbian war criminal Milisav Gavrić.

The Indictment charges Serbian war crimianal Milisav Gavrić with the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity in conjunction with the criminal offense of Genocide,the Bosnian State Court said.

The Bosnian State Prosecution has indicted Serbian war criminal Milisav Gavrić (60) on charges of Crimes against Humanity in conjunction with the criminal offense of Genocide,committed in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The indictment states that from July 10 to 19,1995, Serbian war criminal Milisav Gavrić, who was a member of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations, committed, abetted, ordered and supported criminal acts, whose goal was the persecution of the Bosnian civilians on national and religious grounds.

Serbian war criminal Milisav Gavrić, along with other members of the the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations, is accused of participating in the forced deportation of Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica, who, after the fall of the UN protected zone in Srebrenica, sought refuge with UN forces .

Along with other members of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations, Serbian war criminal Milisav Gavrić helped detain Bosnian civilians from Srebrenica, after which up to 10,000 of them were never heard of or seen again.

The U.N. Security Council declared the town a safe zone in 1993,but,in July 1995,the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor overran Srebrenica and mass murdered up to 10,000 Bosnian civilians.

The Srebrenica massacre has been deemed by the UN war crimes tribunal and the International Court of Justice to have constituted genocide. Thousands of bodies of the genocide victims have been uncovered from about 60 mass graves around Srebrenica.
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ICTY PROSECUTION CHARGES SERBIAN WAR CRIMINALS MILAN AND SREDOJE LUKIC WITH MASS RAPES OF BOSNIAN WOMEN

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (June 13,2008) - The Hague Prosecution has asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to approve the expansion of the indictment against Serbian war criminals Milan and Sredoje Lukic.

The ICTY Prosecution has filed an indictment expansion motion in the case of Serbian war criminals Milan and Sredoje Lukic yesterday, charging them with a huge number of the rapes of Bosnian women in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad.

In case the Tribunal approves the request, this will be the third time the indictment has been changed since 1997, when it was first filed.

As explained in the motion, "in the interest of justice" and on the basis of arguments, the Prosecution asks the Tribunal to consider the proposal to charge the two Serbin war criminals with the rape and sexual abuse of Bosnian women,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, in addition to other charges.

"The available evidence suggest that, in the period of time covered by the indictment, Milan and Sredoje Lukic were involved, individually or together with other participants, in planning, abetting or mediating in a joint criminal enterprise committed in Visegrad, as well as in planning and/or the abetting of rape, keeping in slavery and torture of persons in detention centres and other locations in Visegrad town and its vicinity," the motion indicates.

In essence, the indictees brought Bosnian women and girls to those locations, where they were raped and tortured, the motion further states.

The Prosecution stated that the available evidence imply that Serbian war criminals Milan and Sredoje Lukic kidnapped Bosnian women and girls from their houses in Visegrad and, "at the same time, deteined or murdered their husbands, sons and brothers."

"Milan Lukic and, on some occasions, Sredoje, held women and girls in detention at several locations, most notorious of which were the Vilina Vlas hotel and the Hasan Veletovac school building, as well as at some other locations," the Prosecution stated.

Bosnian women from Visegrad were held in slavery by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor, they were tortured and raped at those locations. A large number of them were raped on multiple occasions.

The available data suggest that the sexual abuse model was a part of a widespread and systematic campaign by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor against Bosnian civilians from Visegrad, the Prosecution said.

Further on, the Prosecution said that the female witnesses, whose names have already been submitted to the Tribunal, would testify concerning these events. In addition it made a reference to available written reports, including a UN Special Report made in 1992, in which an entire chapter was dedicated to rapes committed by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor in Visegrad. Besides this report, the Prosecution also referred to a report made by the Commission for Gathering of Data on War Crimes in Bosnia, as well as the book written by German journalist Alexandra Stiglmayer on mass rapes " The War against Women in Bosnia".

The motion indicates that the witnesses, who were contacted by the Prosecution, were unwilling to testify about mass rapes, "as they were afraid of being in the same room with the indictees once again" and testifying, in public, about what they went through.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will deliver its decision soon.

Serbian war criminal Milan Lukic is charged in his capacity as commander of a genocidal Serbian fascist paramilitary group. The indictment alleges that he committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Serbian war criminal Sredoje Lukic is charged, as member of the same genocidal Serbian fascist paramilitary group, with having committed crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The indictment further alleges that Serbian war criminals Milan i Sredoje Lukic also participated in the mass murder of more than 70 Bosnian women, children and the elderly in a house in Pionirska street and another 70 Bosnian civilians in a house in Bikavac settlement in Visegrad.

In addition, they are charged with torture of Bosnian civilians, who were detained by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor in the Uzamnica barracks.

Serbian war criminal Milan Lukic is also charged with other mass murders of Bosnian civilians on the Drina riverbanks.

Serbian war criminal Milan Lukic was arrested in Argentina in the summer of 2005.

Serbian war criminal Sredoje Lukic surrendered in 2005, after having been hiding in Russia for years. The initial indictment against the two Serbian fascists was filed in 1997.
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BOSNIA AND BULGARIA SIGN BILATERAL AGREEMENT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - Bosnia and Bulgaria and Bosnia signed today a bilateral agreement on political level.Momir Braic, assistant to the Bosnian Foreign Affairs Minister, said that the agreement reflected the strong relations between the leadership and people of both nations.

He added that the document would enable Bosnia to benefit from Bulgaria's experience in NATO and the EU.The agreement is an extension to the deal signed in 2006, the officials informed.

Petio Petev, an official in the Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Ministry, said that Bulgaria would support Bosnia's effor

PRICES UP 7.5% IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 13,2008) - Prices in Bosnia have risen by 7.5 percent in the last year prompting the World Bank to urge the Bosnian government to do more to stem the problem.

The World Bank office in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo however said that at the moment there is no need for real concern.

In an interview with Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz, the director of the Bosnian office of the World Bank, Marco Mantovanelli said that the macroeconomic situation is relatively good in the country at the moment while growth of the Gross Domestic Product remains 5 to 6 percent “and that gives a positive picture of the country.”

According to the World Bank, the increase in prices is relatively low in Bosnia in comparison with global trends but it does not give a reason for the Bosnian government to relax and they should be aware of what is going on in the region and the world.

Mantovanelli said the Bosnian government should consider ways to help the most vulnerable segments of society.

“There should be a good, transparent system to help poor people in order for them to be able to maintain their purchasing power, and that will help the whole economy to keep on going,” said Mantovanelli adding that agricultural sector should be stronger too.
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