BOSNIA TO BECOME EU CANDIDATE BY 2010

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 13,2008) - The Slovenian President Danilo Turk TODAY pledged his country’s support to Bosnia’s bid to move closer to the European Union, saying it could become an official candidate nation by 2010.

"We are talking about abolition of visas in a year or so and candidate status for Bosnia in 2010," Turk told reporters after meeting with the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic.

"In Slovenia, we believe that these are realistic objectives," he added.

"There are too many occasions when there are misperceptions (about Bosnia) on European stage and Slovenia could be helpful in removing these misperceptions," Turk said.

In June, Bosnia signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, seen as the first step towards the full EU membership.

However, disagreements among ruling political parties have stalled the state building process.Stronger central governance is critical to Bosnia’s EU membership prospects.

The Slovenian President Danilo Turk arrived earlier today for a two-day visit to Bosnia, the first visit to Bosnia by a Slovenian president since 2002.
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IMPORTS FROM EU TO BOSNIA INCREASED BY 20%

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 13,2008) - Bosnia imported goods worth 1,173,000,000 Bosnian Marks in July and August of this year from the EU countries, which is 20 percent more than in the same period last year when imported goods were worth 977 million Bosnian Marks.

"During two months of the implementation of the temporary Stabilization and Association Agreement between Bosnia and the EU, revenues from customs on import of products from the EU countries are lower by 15.5 million Bosnian Marks, compared to the same period last year," the spokesperson of the Bosnian Tax Administration Ratko Kovacevic said.

Increase of the value of imported goods from the EU was party caused by abolishment and reduction of customs duties for import of goods from the EU, but also due to increase of prices of goods on the world market.
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SLOVENIAN PRESIDENT DANILO TURK VISITS BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 13,2008) - The President of Slovenia Danilo Türk shall be visiting Bosnia from October 13 to 14.He will meet with the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic today and in the afternoon hours he will travel to the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

On Tuesday, Slovenian President Türk shall visit Mostar and Banja Luka, as it was announced by the Bosnian State Presidency.
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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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THE BIGGEST ROMAN MOSAIC IN EUROPE DISCOVERED IN BOSNIA

SREBRENICA, Bosnia (October 13,2008) - Archaeologist found remains of architecture, building fragments and mosaics with unique ornaments from Roman period in Skelani, Srebrenica municipality, on depth from 80 to 180 metres.A whole Roman town is situated in soil below Skelani.

''We discovered the biggest preserved Roman floor mosaic in the southeastern Europe, and probably in the whole Europe. These are 40 m² of mosaics unique by the diversity of colours”, Mirko Babic, leader of the archaeological team and director of Regional museum from Bijeljina, said.

The remains from three periods were discovered, and the remains of the premises, walls and mosaics of the central hall of the Roman municipality from 1st Century were also discovered.

Babic says that they also found traces of buildings and streets from Roman period which points that, in the Roman period, there was very important, developed and rich centre in Skelani.
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