The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, yesterday in a letter to the Republika Srpska Prime Minister, Mladen Ivanic, noted that the agreement on military co-operation signed by the Ministers of Defence of the RS and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 12 July 2001 had no legal effect.

The "Agreement on the Manner of Deciding the Status Issues of the 30^th Cadre Centre and on Financial Assistance of the Federal Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the RS Ministry of Defence", by its terms, was intended to be an Annex to the Special Relations Agreement between the RS and the FRY. However, proper procedure was not followed in its preparation.

The Agreement itself may be intended to heighten transparency in the funding and training of the RS armed forces by the FRY, which would be a positive step. However, because the text is vague, it is not possible to make a judgment at this stage about the substance of the Agreement.

The High Representative has offered to arrange for a meeting between his experts and the parties involved in order to discuss the Agreement and undertake a thorough review of it. He welcomes a letter from President Kostunica's cabinet dated 30 July, which acknowledges that this matter needs to be examined in consultation with the High Representative.