Speeches

02/09/2002

Speech by the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch at International Conference “Developing New Policies of International Support-Lessons (not) Learned in BiH” – Peace and Security – institutional development and the rule of law
In the two and a half years since I became High Representative in BiH, I have found myself repeating the phrases "institution building" and "rule of law" again and again - not because they have some sort of mantra-like power but because they are shorthand for the body of legislation and practice which a modern democracy needs in order to work prope [...]
01/16/2002

Speech by the High Representative to the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council came into being – originally as the North Atlantic Cooperation Council -- in July 1990, at a time of fundamental and often dramatic change. With the fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War, global diplomacy entered uncharted waters. A decade ago, the West hustled to craft a positive response to the [...]
01/16/2002

Speech by the High Representative to the North Atlantic Council
Six years after the signing of the Dayton/Paris Accords, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains in every sense at the heart of a region making slow but genuine progress towards a stable and prosperous future. There are those who believe that the time has come for the IC to pack its bags and move on. My message to you today is that we are not there yet R [...]
12/01/2001

Speech by the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch to a conference on the new positioning of the University of Sarajevo, held at the Marsal Hotel, mount Igman
Thank you for inviting me to join this discussion on the future of Sarajevo University. It is a centre of learning which can look back on a distinguished history, and with imagination and wise management, it can take its place again among the best European universities. However, instituting reform and sweeping away the unacceptable habits which hav [...]
11/30/2001

Opening remarks by Wolfgang Petritsch at the Stability Pact Working Table meeting on Economic Reconstruction, Development and Cooperation
Bosnia and Herzegovina has had to overcome many obstacles before participating actively in the process of regional cooperation, yet it is now fully engaged at every level. It is a source of particular satisfaction to see that Sarajevo, the city that witnessed the birth of the Stability Pact in 1999, is now hosting a senior-level working meeting on [...]
10/29/2001

Speech by the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, at the Ceremony to Award Master Diplomas in Democracy and Human Rights in Southeast Europe, University of Sarajevo
It is an honour and, of course, a pleasure to address this gathering this morning. Just as the social, political, and economic life of Bosnia and Herzegovina is recovering from the war -- slowly and often painfully -- the academic life of the country is recovering too, and this morning's ceremony, to award diplomas and inaugurate the new Academic.