BOSNIA TO MEET EU CONDITIONS BY 2012

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 7,2008) - According to the Action Plan adopted yesterday, the Bosnian government plans to meet all the European Partnership conditions by 2012, Bosnia's Prime Minister Nikola Spiric has confirmed.

As he said, some of EU conditions have already been met, some are in the process of being fulfilled, while the others will be satisfied by no later than 2012.

The European Partnership is a document that the European Commission issued in November 2008, containing a list of priorities that Bosnia needs to meet as part of its EU association process.
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AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT DELEGATION VISITS BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 7,2008) - The Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic met yesterday with the delegation of Australian parliamentarians.He informed the delegation on achieved progress of Bosnia towards European integration and expressed optimism regarding successful completion of the rest of reforms.

"Our economy has growth of 6%. Asides this, we have a huge hydro power potential which is still largely unused. In the following period we have to change our system which is full of blockages and enable good living conditions for all Bosnian citizens”,President Silajdzic said during the meeting.

He added that cooperation between Bosnia and Australia can be improved, primarily in economy, tourism and culture segments.

Australian Senate Chair, John Hogg expressed readiness to improve cooperation between the two friendly states,the Bosnian State Presidency said.
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ICELAND AWARDS BOSNIAN FILM "SNOW"

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (October 7,2008) - Bosnian film "Snijeg" (Snow), directed by Bosnian film director Aida Begic has won the Main Award of Reykjavik International Film Festival.

Co-produced by Bosnia,Iran,Germany and France, the film participated in the event's New Vision category.

The post-war Bosnian drama relates the story of widowed women living in 1997 post-war Bosnia, who fight for their freedom and survival.

Snow premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and received the Grand Prix award of the event's Critics Week program.

The feature-length film has been chosen to represent Bosnia at the foreign film section of the 81st Oscar Awards.

The fifth edition of the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) was held from Sep. 25 to Oct. 5, 2008 in the Icelandic capital.
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BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT ORGANIZES WORKSHOP ON PROTECTION OF BOSNIAN FORESTS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 7,2008) - A workshop taking place at the Bosnian National Park "Sutjeska" from October 6 to 8 will introduce a project for the protection of Bosnian forests and mountain areas, worth 6 million USD.

The project aims at boosting the institutional capacity for sustainable management of seven protected areas throughout Bosnia in the next four years.

The workshop is organized by the Bosnian Ministry for Environmental Protection. Representatives of the Bosnian state and regional governments and protected areas are the participants.

The project for the protection of forest and mountain areas in Bosnia is supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank with USD 3.4 million, while Bosnia will provide USD 2.5 million
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FBIH ENTITY TO ESTABLISH A FISCAL COUNCIL

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 7,2008) - The FBIH entity government and all ten cantons in this Bosnian region will revise their budgets for the current year because of revenues that have been smaller than forecast.

The revised budgets will serve as a basis for the 2009 budgets, it was concluded in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo yesterday.

A government release issued afterwards states that a fiscal council would be established in the FBiH entity, both to coordinate fiscal activities in the entity and to define its positions within the Bosnian State Fiscal Council. Through that body, a single budget for the FBiH entity should be defined.
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REAL ESTATE PRICES TO GO DOWN IN BOSNIA DUE TO GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 7,2008) - According to the Director of the World Bank’s Office in Bosnia Marco Mantovanelli, the Bosnian economy is in quite a good shape. The inflation rate is around eight percent, and it is not expected to go over ten percent by the end of 2008, and GDP growth rate is at a stable six per cent, so there is no reason for major concerns,he said.

However, the financial crisis that first hit the United States and than started pouring over to Europe will certainly be felt in Bosnia, as well,he said.

Mantovanelli is uncertain about the extent of its impact, but says that banks in Bosnia are already more restrictive in lending, interest rates are slightly up, while remittances are stagnant (last year the expatriates sent around 4 billion Bosnian Marks to their relatives in Bosnia).

As a result, Mantovanelli expects the real estate prices to go down. He hopes the state would find ways to help the business sector.
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FOUR REGIONAL GAS DISTRIBUTORS TO FORM A JOINT RESEARCH COMPANY

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 7,2008) - Four gas distributors in the region have agreed recently to form a joint research company that will be the beginning of the process of connecting national distribution networks in the southeastern Europe and developing a new network of gas pipelines, BH Gas has announced.

The agreement was reached in Budapest recently, on the Nets transmission initiative by Hungarian Mol. Each of the countries involved will contribute 1 million Euros to the joint venture.

Within two years, the new organization should produce a study about the network routes and new regional infrastructural projects. The headquarters have not been specified yet, but Croatia and Romania are candidates.

Bosnia is an observing member for now, with an ambition to become a full member of the Nets project. The country has submitted two project initiatives in Budapest.
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