09/14/2004 UNITIC Sarajevo

OHR’s Statement at the International Agency’s Joint Press Conference

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HR Speaks At CampMcGovern Handover

The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, will be in Brcko tomorrow to attend the handover of Camp McGovern by SFOR to the Brcko authorities. This handover, as the High Representative will point out, reflects the overall process of right-sizing the International Community’s activities in BiH as the BiH authorities resume authority and shoulder corresponding responsibilities.

As BiH moves decisively onto the Euro-integration path, the High Representative in his speech will highlight the six key implementation priorities, namely consolidating the institutional structures and operating capacities of SIPA, the War Crimes Chamber in the Court of BiH, the Indirect Taxation Authority, the Intelligence-Security Service, and the Defence and Security Ministries.

PDHR on Transformation of BiH

The Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald Hays, will call for a change in the overall approach of BiH politicians when he addresses a conference at the Holiday Inn today organised by the Bled School of Management. The topic of the conference is the “Transformation of BiH” and the role of “agents of change” in making that transformation happen.

Successful agents of change, Ambassador Hays will argue, know where they want to go, how to get there, and how to persuade other people to go along with them. To date, BiH’s political leaders have routinely failed on all three counts.

Often, political leaders who know where they want to go and how to get there recoil from the losses in their own popularity which will inevitably arise from forging ahead with painful reforms. In other transition countries, such successful reformers have been voted out of office, only to have their incoming critics benefit when the reforms start to deliver positive results.

But in practically every case, as Ambassador Hays points out, “the incoming governments, though they may have discontinued some reforms and slowed the pace of others, did not undo the reforms that had already been set in place. They accepted these reforms because the arguments in favour of them were compelling.

If we see an influx of new faces and new ideas following the 2 October elections, the incoming leaders will need a clear vision of where they want BiH to be a decade from now. The destination is Europe – a goal that can motivate citizens to make the sacrifices necessary to transform their society, their economy, and their political system in a way that endures. Europe means stability, visa-free travel, the very real prospect of prosperity, and the best guarantee for their future – BiH needs successful agents of change in order to reach that destination.

I’ve brought along copies of the speech, which you can collect afterwards.