Transcript of the International Agency’s Joint Press Conference in CPIC

 Subject: JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE – 31 October 2002

1.       The following attended the regular Press Conference held at the CPIC at 11:30 hours on Thursday 31 October 2002:

2.       Twenty-seven members of the media including five television crews attended the conference.

3.       The transcript of the questions and answers is attached.

Kevin Sullivan– OHR

Three Items from the Office of the High Representative.

The High Representative Paddy Ashdown, will be coming back from Brussels this afternoon, as you know, he addressed the North Atlantic Council and gave a presentation to the European Unions Political and Security Committee and he met Chris Patten and George Robertson.  He will give a short press conference at the Airport at 14:30, in the VIP lounge and you are all of course cordially invited.

The second item is on behalf of all of us on the podium.

Last Saturday there was an attack on a returnee’s property in Nisici, in Ilijas.  A suspect was apprehended by the police, following the intervention of one of the returnee’s neighbours, and the person is now being dealt with according to the law.  There is no reason why this incident should generate uncertainty over the return process.  On the contrary, the local police and the local community acted speedily and efficiently to address the situation.

All of the agencies represented here today, the OHR, UNHCR, OSCE, UNMIBH and SFOR, commend the statements made by Ilijas Mayor Nusret Masic, in the last few days condemning this incident, and all of the activities promoting the safe return of displaced people to Ilijas, particularly in the Nisici area.  We would like to express our appreciation of those activities.

The process of return to a safe environment, property repossession and the creation of a sustainable life for returnees will not be impeded.  The International Community will work in co-operation with local authorities to ensure that this process continues.

The third item is as ever my very great pleasure to announce the publication of the latest Office of the High Representatives economic newsletter.  I know that you are very often extremely enthusiastic about this, but if I could ask you to kerb your enthusiasm until the end of the press conference, I have brought along copies for you all to read your own personal copy of the economic newsletter.

One of the points, which leaps off the page of the economic newsletter is the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina exports in the January to July period amounted to 1.158 billion KM.  The value of imports in same period was 4.326 billion-KM.  That represents a trade deficit of 3.168 billion, which is huge.  These figures are unsustainable.  What is happening is that Bosnia and Herzegovina is accumulating a trade deficit on top of its huge international debt burden.

The only way to reverse this state of affairs is to generate economic growth significantly higher than the five-percent growth, which was recorded last year and the year before.  The newsletter provides information on the latest developments in potential growth sectors such as agriculture and tourism.  The core role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the economic regeneration of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be highlighted in an Office of the High Representative produced television series, which the High Representative will launch on Monday.  The television series is a follow-up to Office of the High Representatives Information campaign “From an Idea to a Business”, that was designed to offer practical help to entrepreneurs on how to start their own profitable companies.  What the statistics in the latest newsletter emphasise is that entrepreneurship is not a luxury, it is something, which Bosnia and Herzegovina desperately needs.  Unless more businesses get started and they are not going to get started until the governments pull up their socks and start providing the kind of business environment, which small and medium size enterprises need.  Unless those businesses get started the country is going to sink under an unsustainable debt burden.  We will give more information about the High Representative’s launch of the new campaign, he will be visiting a successful small company on Monday, and we will give you details of that before the event.  That is it from the Office of the High Representative.

Urdur Gunnarsdottir – OSCE

Good morning from OSCE.

Ambassador Robert M. Beecroft, is in Vienna today, where he is giving his regular quarterly update to the OSCE Permanent Council on the activities of the OSCE Mission.  He will discuss education issues, the recent elections, the property law implementation and regional co-operation in the field of returns, good governance programmes for cantons and municipalities and recent developments in the security co-operation field.

Today the Deputy Head of Mission Ambassador Henry Zipper de Fabiani, will be welcoming two new municipalities to the OSCE, Municipal Infrastructure Finance and Implementation Project, or MIFI.

The Kotor Varos Mayor Mr. Zarko Mikic, and the Prijedor Mayor Ms. Nada Sevo, will sign a Memoranda of Understanding with the OSCE on furthering good governance in their municipalities. In turn, OSCE will provide training and technical assistance to these municipalities.

This initiative acknowledges the progress that these municipalities have already made in managing municipal finances more responsibly and improving transparency in government operations.  Prijedor has demonstrated the positive role that municipalities can play in actively encouraging the return of its pre-war populations.  It has formed a municipal working group on public administration reform and transparency, which the MIFI together with other partners will actively support.  OSCE training and expert advice will be offered to assist the municipality in achieving its ambitious goals with regards to more reforms improved municipal budgeting and active citizen outreach.  That is all from me today, thank you.

Kirsten Haupt – UNMIBH

I have two items for you today.

Firstly a lot of figures, I will try to spare you most of the figures, again it is about certification and you will have the detailed figures in a handout after the press conference.

The IPTF Commissioner has decided to award certification to a further group of 7,332 law enforcement officers.  They have proved to have the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out professional police responsibilities in accordance with democratic standards.  These officers have been subjected to in-depth checks of all kinds and they have been checked in a joint effort by the local law enforcement agencies as well as the IPTF.  They have demonstrated the ability to perform police powers, to have valid educational credentials, to be in compliance with the property legislation, to have completed necessary training and as another requirement have proved to be citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The officers whose certification, I am announcing here today are coming from Canton 1,

Canton 4, Canton 6, Canton 7 and PSC Banja Luka, PSC Banja Luka Sector Prijedor, PSC Doboj, PSC Srpska Sarajevo and the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior.  You will get the breakdown of the figures in the handout later.

In addition, the IPTF Commissioner has decided that the certification for 245 officers will remain pending.  These officers do not, for the moment, meet some of the necessary criteria mentioned above.  Some of them still have to provide proof of citizenship, some have to get the necessary clearance of the court, or still have to undergo outstanding necessary training.  In this group there is also included, a number of officers who still have ongoing criminal cases, and there we have to wait for the outcome of those cases until we can decide over the certification.

The last group, is the group of 200 officers, who have not received certification, the IPTF Commissioner has denied giving certification.  These officers have failed to uphold standards of human rights and the rule of law; some of them have not provided valid educational credentials or they have not complied with the property legislation.  That again concerns these nine areas that I mentioned before and you will have the breakdown in the handout after the press conference.

Let me just give you an overview, where we now stand with certification, I have announced three times, groups of police officers that have received certification.

We are now standing at 13,618 officers out of the about 17,000 provisionally authorised law enforcement personnel that have received certification since the start of this process on the, 18 October 2002.  Altogether the certification for 495 officers is pending, and 400 officers have been denied certification.

By today the certification covers 20 out of 24 law enforcement agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  In the near future I will announce, the remaining four law enforcement agencies or the officers who are working there will also receive certification and that will concern Canton 8, Canton 10, the State Border Service and the Court Police

Now I have an announcement to make on three cases of removal of provisional authorisation.  Some of you may wonder why this is still being announced as we are now talking about certification.  That is due to a time overlap that these removals had already taken place prior to the start of certification, but that time was needed to deliver those notifications.

These removals of authorisations by the IPTF Commissioner Sven Frederiksen these decision have been made as it was found that the performance of these three police officers did not render them fit for service in a law enforcement agency.  These three officers are Adnan Adilovic, Nermin Fehratovic and Djordjo Dujakovic.

Mr. Adilovic, who worked as a crime inspector in the organised crime department of Canton 6 Ministry of Interior, was found to have sold property that did not belong to him. While being suspended for the duration of the investigation into this case, Mr. Adilovic got involved in a fight in March 2002, during which he used his official firearm and injured a person.  He was actually under the terms of the suspension required to have handed in this firearm, so he was violating the terms of the suspension not only injuring a person, but also violating the terms of the suspension.  Also in addition, Mr. Adilovic was found to have been a customer in a nightclub.  All these findings led to the decision to remove the provisional authorisation from this former police officer.

Mr. Fehratovic, who was a police officer in the police administration Gracanica in Canton 3, was also identified as having frequented a nightclub on several occasions in the period of November – December 2001.  A subsequent disciplinary investigation found him guilty of a serious breach of official duty.

The last case, Mr. Dujakovic, who was previously a police officer in PSC Doboj, was found to have rented his private property to some persons who first ran a coffee bar there and later a nightclub in the period from May 1999 to May 2002.  It was also found in the subsequent investigation that victims of human trafficking were made to work in that very same place.

All three former police officers have had their provisional authorisation removed, which also means that they are precluded from any future employment in any other law enforcement agency in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  That is all I have for you today.

Majda Prljaca – UNHCR

Good morning from UNHCR.  We have no statement for you today, thank you.

Lieutenant Commander Yves Vanier – SFOR

No statement from SFOR either, thank you.

Kevin Sullivan – OHR

Can we have some questions?

Questions and Answers

Q:        Daria Sito-Sucic – Reuters

Kevin, can we say that when you gave us all this data about trade deficit and the debt of the country, can we say that Bosnia unless growth increases is facing bankruptcy next year?

A:        Kevin Sullivan – OHR

Yes absolutely, next year is optimistic.  I think the point that ought to be made is that as aid declines perceptibly domestic economic growth has to take its place.  To some extent we have seen that with 5% growth over the last two years, that is on a low base and is to modest, but it does demonstrate that the economy is beginning to display the necessary signs of viability.  Now what has to be done is, that has to be built upon the steps which the main political parties have endorsed in the Justice and Jobs programme represents a basis for building on what has already been done.  What these figures illustrate is that there is absolutely no more time to waste and that effective measures have to be taken very, very quickly.  Something which, the High Representative will touch upon on Monday, is the fact that entrepreneurs who are already doing the job, there is no shortage of entrepreneurial spirit in Bosnia and Herzegovina and there is no shortage of economic potential.  What has to happen is that the legislators need to catch up with the business people, the business people are already doing their job properly and legislators have to do the same.

Kevin Sullivan – OHR

            Anymore questions?  Come and get your economic newsletter now.  Thank you.