The citizens of Mostar have waited too long for an end to partition and parallel institutions. Leading international organizations represented in BiH – OSCE, OHR, EUPM, World Bank, European Commission, UNHCR, UN and IMF – fully support the newly enacted Statute of the City of Mostar, considering it a good basis for reuniting the city in a manner that prevents any one constituent people from dominating the others while enhancing all citizens’ chances of enjoying a more prosperous future. As Mostar overcomes its reputation for discord, it will also begin to attract an ever-larger volume of foreign and domestic investment and recover its status as a major tourist attraction in BiH.
The reunification of the city will mean its administration is better able to serve its citizens, effectively delivering proper education, healthcare, and other services. The six municipalities that existed hitherto cost every man, woman and child in Mostar 310KM.
For too long, Mostar has been a symbol of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s division and dysfunctionality. The High Representative’s decision to enact a new Statute for the city represents the culmination of a ten-month long effort by the local authorities, assisted by representatives of the international community, to develop a new organizational plan for the city – a plan that will reunite residents and put a belated end to wartime divisions.
Demonstrating a new spirit of compromise, the second Commission for Reforming the City of Mostar managed to reach agreement on the majority of governance issues facing the city. It has been left to the High Representative, however, to bridge the remaining gaps, providing what should prove to be durable solutions in that same spirit of compromise. The heads of the leading international institutions in BiH look to all the citizens of Mostar to support this joint common effort.