High representative and Special Representative Miroslav Lajčák met with the SNSD President and RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik in Banja Luka today. The meeting is one of a sequence of meetings with top ranking officials in BiH.
HR/EUSR Lajčák and Prime Minister Dodik discussed the current political situation in BiH and a number of outstanding issues that need to be resolved if BiH to make progress on the obligations arising out of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), signed last month, and fulfil the five objectives and two conditions defined by the Peace Implementation Council in February this year for the OHR/EUSR transition.
HR/EUSR Miroslav Lajčák and Prime Minister Dodik agreed that additional political effort is needed to find solutions acceptable to all BiH citizens. To this end, they supported the idea of holding a joint meeting of the leaders of the six governing political parties to prepare BiH as far as possible for new progress in the autumn.
“Resolving the issue of state property requires additional political effort on all sides”, said HR/EUSR Lajčák and called on leaders to act on the basis of the principles defined by the State Property Commission in October last year. “This issue is important not only because it was defined by the Peace Implementation Council as one of the requirements for the OHR/EUSR transition, but because it will also show BiH’s readiness to resolve issues of crucial importance for the country’s European future on its own”, said the HR/EUSR Lajčák.
The High Representative and EU Special Representative, Miroslav Lajčák will continue his round of bilateral meetings with political officials in Sarajevo tomorrow when he will meet with HDZ BiH party president, Dragan Covic.