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Serbia Today 96-05-28
Serbia Today
28 May 1996
CONTENTS
[01] OUR VITAL INTEREST IS PEACE IN THE BALKANS
[02] FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS COMING BACK
[03] FIRST CRUDE OIL SHIPMENTS ARRIVE BY DANUBE
[04] THERE CAN BE NO SERB REPUBLIC WITHOUT BRCKO
[05] MUSLIMS OBSTRUCTING ACCESS TO ENTOMBMENTS
[06] FEDERATION WILL BE WIPED OUT BY TIME
[07] SUGGESTION TO CLINTON WITHOUT RESPONSE
[08] PROTEST OF THE JEWS ORIGINATING FROM YUGOSLAVIA
[09] FORMER YUGOSLAVIA MEANT A LOT TO SLOVENIA
[01] OUR VITAL INTEREST IS PEACE IN THE BALKANS
The signature of the Dayton Agreement and suspension of sanctions brought a great relief to the
citizens and industries of Serbia and Yugoslavia. The Government of Serbia is consistently adhering to the
basic objectives of economic policy (currency and price stability, output increase, balanced budget and
public expenditure financing from real sources, creating a favourable climate for market economy operation
and quicker linking with Europe and rest of the world) and the main operating results in the first four/five
months, are indicative of stability and positive tendencies - said Mirko Marjanovic, Prime Minister of the
Republic of Serbia, in a talk with the representatives of foreign media who attended the already traditional
34th International Meeting of Journalists. We have been abiding and we will continue to abide by all
decisions made in Dayton - was Prime Minister Marjanovicts answer to many questions posed in
connection with the implementation of the Dayton Agreement and the situation in the former Bosnia &
Herzegovina.
Marjanovic substantiated his claim about economic stability and operating results so far this year,
by concrete statistics. Industrial output in the first four months has increased by 3.3 percent and the value of
total foreign trade transactions was 1.5 billion dollars. Prices are showing signs of calming down, the dinar
exchange rate has been stable for quite some time now, and wages, pensions and other receipts have
increased in real terms. In Prime Ministerts opinion, the most important factor of current stability is a firm
budgetary discipline, and the Government of Serbia will cut the total tax burden by the end of the year in
order to give the industries more room for investment and development.
On being asked to say something about the situation in Kosovo, Marjanovic said that the situation
in this province is stable and stressed that the Kosovo issue is an internal affair of Yugoslavia, which is also
the opinion of the international community. According to him, national minorities have greater rights here
than anywhere else in the world. There are no reasons for the Albanians to be discontented, since all citizens
are equal, irrespective of their ethnic affiliation or confession.It is quite another matter that some Albanians,
who are influenced by the separatist leaderships, are not taking the opportunities offered by the legislation.
(Politika, 28.5)
[02] FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS COMING BACK
Jovan Zebic, Federal Vice Prime Minister and Federal Minister of Finance, opened today in
Leskovac a number of trade fair events entitled Mestem 96. What is involved is the 44th International Fair
of Textile Machines and Accessories, the 15th Fair of Small-scale Industries, the 4th Fair of Electronics and
the 1st Machine Tool Fair. The many domestic manufacturers were joined by 40 or so manufacturers from
Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Rumania, France and some other countries, who according to
Zebic, will help open room again in our market for business arrangements relating to industrial cooperation,
trade and joint ventures. Reintegration into the world economic trends is one of the key issues in the
application of the Federal Governmentts economic policy measures, said Zebic and added that the chief
economic policy objectives for this year are price and currency stability, risen output and exports,
restructuring, ownership transformation and improved living standards. (Borba, 28.5)
[03] FIRST CRUDE OIL SHIPMENTS ARRIVE BY DANUBE
The Karlovac pushboat, owned by the Yugoslav River Shipping Company (JRB), delivered 12,770
tonnes of crude oil to the Pancevo Oil Refinery docks. That is the first crude oil delivery based on an
arrangement with Cinohem of China, or to be more exact, on an arrangement between the governments of
the FR of Yugoslavia and the PR of China. The JRB vessels are currently carrying 50,000 tonnes of crude
oil of excellent quality. Conditions have been created for the vessels of JRB and a Rumanian company to
transport 100,000-120,000 tonnes of crude oil each month, said Rados Vukovic, Assistant Director of NIS
Jugopetrol. (Politika, 28.5)
[04] THERE CAN BE NO SERB REPUBLIC WITHOUT BRCKO
The status of the town Brcko is one of the essential and vital issues for the Serb Republic and
Serbian people in this district, said Miodrag Pajic, President of the Assembly of the Municipality of Brcko,
and added that this issue and the subject matter of arbitration have been politicized. Under the Dayton
Agreement, the Serbian people were accorded the right to an entity, and it has been made clear that the
subject matter of arbitration is the border between the two entities. The bringing into question of the town
of Brcko would mean the denial of one of the basic rights of the Serbian people in Bosnia & Herzegovina -
the right to an entity and territorial integrity, said Pajic. He added that the international arbitration
scheduled for mid-June can begin only once the arbitrators have been named and the subject matter of
arbitration has been set. (Vecernje novosti, 28.5).
[05] MUSLIMS OBSTRUCTING ACCESS TO ENTOMBMENTS
The opening of collective entombments of the Serbian soldiers and civilians in the municipalities
of Sanski Most and Petrovac is still an uncertainty because the Muslim side is not allowing to the Serbian
representatives access to these localities, said Nedeljko Savic, Chairman of the Exchanges Commission of
the First Krajina Corps of the Serb Republic Army. The opening of these collective entombments was to be
proceeded with on 23 May and be ended by 26 June. The Muslim-Croat side admitted so far that there are
47 collective entombments in the former area of responsibility of the First and Second Krajina Corps, and
94 altogether in the territory of the former Bosnia & Herzegovina. Savic said that international factors are
not giving enough assistance towards exhumation.(Ekspres, 28.5)
[06] FEDERATION WILL BE WIPED OUT BY TIME
Deputy Minister of Defense of the Muslim-Croat Federation, Hasan Cengic, expressed his
discontent with the latest Washington agreement, according to which the joint federal army is to be
established within three years. He said for the Muslim-controlled Radio Sarajevo that the problem is in the
fact that within the next three years, we wontt even have a federation. He claims that the unification of units
of the Croatian and Muslim armed forces in Bosnia could be carried out in less than a year, if the two sides
sincerely wanted to do so. Bozo Raic, Chairman of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in Bosnia &
Herzegovina said at a HDZ convention in Sarajevo that there never will be a single federal army.(Vecernje
novosti, 28.5)
[07] SUGGESTION TO CLINTON WITHOUT RESPONSE
In its yesterdayts editorial, the Washington Post spoke in favour of a postponement of elections in
Bosnia pending the creation of proper conditions therefor, which would imply also the prolongation of the
American troopst stay there. It was said that although this would mean to compromise the Dayton
Agreement, it would also be a move towards avoiding an election farce in Bosnia. Clinton was reminded
that he should act more like the head of a state rather than a candidate at presidential elections. Judging by
the reactions shown by Clintonts administration, it is not likely that Clinton will accept such suggestions
and postpone elections in Bosnia. (Borba, 28.5)
[08] PROTEST OF THE JEWS ORIGINATING FROM YUGOSLAVIA
The Israeli Association of Jews Originating from Yugoslavia wrote a letter condemning the
Croatian presidentts idea of burying the Ustashe killers next to their victims at the Jasenovac memorial
complex. The letter was addressed to the President of Israel, the Speaker of the Kneset, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the World Jewish Congress, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, the Holocaust Museum
in Brooklyn, the Yad Washem Holocaust Memorial centre in Jerusalem, the Wiesenthal Centre and the
President of the Jewish Agency. A letter of protest was also addressed to President Tudjman of Croatia, but
no response has been received from him to date. The Jews originating from Yugoslavia, who were fortunate
enough to survive the holocaust, will not allow tthe graves of their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters to
be desecrated and they dontt want to light candles in memory of their dead and their executioners at the
same timet. It was said at the end of this letter that Tudjmants idea of turning Jasenovac into a memorial to
victims and their killers is no less cynical than the idea of erecting a supermarket at the site of the
Auschwitz concentration camp. Tanjug (28.5)
[09] FORMER YUGOSLAVIA MEANT A LOT TO SLOVENIA
Jure Apih, one of the leading European experts in marketing said for the Delo of Slovenia that the
former common Yugoslav state was a market which appreciated Slovenian goods. Apih said that all those
who are claiming that they were not affected by the disintegration of Yugoslavia are lying, and added:
tYugoslavia in itself was a big wealth and an attractive country. It meant a lot to Slovenia. Had the
negotiations about a new confederation been successful, Slovenia would have preserved its market and
protected itself effectively against the political and cultural violence demonstrated by otherst. Embittered
about the fate of the former common state, Apih said openly and sternly, which was the first case of that in
the Slovenian media in the last few years, that Europe is not prepared to accept and pay for Slovenian
goods. (Borba, 28.5)
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