Speeches

Before starting my speech, let me congratulate Bosnia and Herzegovina for its election to the UN Security Council. This is in my view Bosnia and Herzegovina’s greatest foreign policy success since the signature of the Dayton Agreement. However, it is of course also a huge responsibility for the country, which I believe Bosnia and Herzegovina will s [...]

Ladies and Gentlemen,It’s a pleasure to be with you again. I had the honour of taking part in a discussion with Circle 99 just over a year ago.

First of all I would like to thank Ambassadors Herbert Salber and Gary Robbins for inviting me to speak at this important event. The OSCE continues to play a crucial role in Bosnian and Herzegovina and my office and myself are having a close working relationship with the OSCE in a number of important areas.

I spoke recently at a gathering of BiH and foreign business people and I ended my remarks with the observation that in difficult times I don’t believe the appropriate response is to wring one’s hands and complain about how bad things are. I believe the thing to do is to roll up one’s sleeves and look for opportunities amid the difficulties – becaus [...]

All of us, I’m sure, are well aware that Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently experiencing “interesting times”, but I think the inference of the malediction is unnecessarily pessimistic. It assumes that “interesting” equals “bad” – and I don’t believe that has to be the case.

I’m particularly pleased to be taking part in this conference because the topic under discussion – inward investment – is the crucial challenge facing Bosnia and Herzegovina today. The bottom line is this: we need more investment, to create more jobs, to reduce poverty and raise living standards.

The great Italian anti-fascist writer Ignazio Silone visiting Galilee with his wife in the early 1960s described the barren but beautiful countryside there as – and I quote – “the landscape of my soul”.

Let me begin by expressing my thanks to the organisers of the Velden Economic Forum – for three things. First of all, thank you for inviting me to take part in this discussion. Second, thank you for inviting everyone else! And thirdly, thank you for facilitating a debate that brings together economists and policymakers from a part of Europe whose n [...]

Thank you for coming. There is one week until the expiry of the PIC SB’s deadline for the Entities and the State to fulfill the remaining obligations towards Brcko needed for the end of Supervision. So I am hear to update you on how they are going in this regard.