The Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald S. Hays, today met with the Council of Ministers internal review panel on the CIPS issue, made up of BiH Minister of Civil Affairs and Communications Svetozar Mihajlovic, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economics Jadranko Prilic and Deputy Minister of the Treasury of the BiH Institutions Muharem Imamovic, and handed them a comprehensive report of his review of the two-year preparation process for the proposed Citizens' Identity Protection System (CIPS) tender.

Based on an extensive review of documentation at the Office of the High Representative and in the BiH Government archives, and upon a review by European Union and World Trade Organization experts, the PDHR concluded in his report to the BiH Council of Ministers that the process, which began in October 1998, has been undertaken with the full support of the government of BiH.

Throughout the process there have been literally scores of meetings with legal and technical working groups representing the interests of various BiH state and entity ministries. The entire process has been a record of very close partnership and transparency between the international community - not just OHR but other agencies too - and the relevant ministries and the BiH Council of Ministers.