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Serbia Today 96-09-11
Serbia Today
11 September 1996
CONTENTS
[01] FULL SUPPORT TO THE EFFORTS FOR PEACE AND SUCCESSFUL ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
[02] THE ELECTIONS IN RS WILL CHANGE THE POLITICAL BALANCE OF POWER
[03] EVERYTHING IS READY FOR THE TRIP TO BOSNIA
[04] FRY IS SHOULDERING THE MAJOR LOAD
[05] STRENGTHENING COOPERATION AND TRUST WITH FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS
[06] GREATER TRADE VOLUME
[07] A DOZEN AGREEMENTS ABOUT TO BE SIGNED
[08] GROWTH OF EXPORTS TO DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
[09] JOINT APPROACH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
[10] THE PROBLEM OF REFUGEES IS JEOPARDIZING THE ERDUT AGREEMENT
[11] THREATS OF THE CROATIAN DEFENSE MINISTER
[12] BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT: "DEFINITE LIFTING OF SANCTIONS IS IMMINENT"
[01] FULL SUPPORT TO THE EFFORTS FOR PEACE AND SUCCESSFUL ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
At the forthcoming elections in the Republic of Srpska due on
September 14, legitimacy should be acquired by those parties and
individuals that endorse peace and the democratic development of
the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina, their economic
renewal, openness and European and global integration - said
President Milosevic during his encounter with the candidates for
the most important offices in RS. President Milosevic received
yesterday Mr. Zivko Radisic - presidential candidate in the
Republic of Srpska, Dr. Mladen Ivanic - candidate for member of
presidency of B&H, Dr. Nedjo Djuric - candidate for vice president
of RS, Dr Dragutin Ilic - head of list of candidates for the
Parliament of RS, and Dr. Branko Dokic - head of the list of
candidates for the House of Representatives of the Parliament of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The forthcoming elections will have
enormous importance - for the Republic of Srpska and for the entire
region. The interests of the republic of Srpska will be best served
if after the elections the most important offices are covered by
those that will promote unity, and not by those that are in
conflict with the entire world, people that will take care of the
well-being of the citizens, and not for personal interests. You
have our full support for your efforts for peace and successful
economic and cultural development - said President Milosevic during
the encounter with the candidates for the most important offices in
the Republic of Srpska and in the Bosnian confederate bodies.
(Politika, September 11, 1996)
[02] THE ELECTIONS IN RS WILL CHANGE THE POLITICAL BALANCE OF POWER
Ms. Gorica Gajevic - Secretary General of the Socialist Party
of Serbia, stated in an interview for the "Banjalucke Novine" that
she firmly believes that the people of the Republic of Srpska will
know how to choose the political forces that are oriented towards
peace and that will be capable of solving with success the numerous
complex problems that RS faces. "I am convinced that after the
democratic election in RS, the political balance of power will
shift in favor of those that support peace, progress, renewal and
development, namely in favor of the candidates that endorse the
overall social-economic development of RS" - stressed Ms. Gajevic.
She also reminded that the Yugoslav and Serbian leadership, with
the undivided help of all their citizens, offered every possible
support to the just struggle of the people of RS, determined to
preserve their civil and national rights, and acquire an equal
status, and that this kind of support caused the introduction of
sanctions - unprecedented in modern history. "I think that most of
the people of the Republic of Srpska want peace, and the
reconstruction of their homes, schools and factories destroyed in
the war, as well as a juridical state, the punishment of criminals
and war profiteers, stronger ties with Serbia, Yugoslavia and
Europe. The people of the Republic of Srpska know which forces can
meet such expectations, or rather, which forces betrayed such
hopes." - concluded Ms. Gajevic.
(Politika, September 11, 1996)
[03] EVERYTHING IS READY FOR THE TRIP TO BOSNIA
The Federal Government Committee for aid to the refugees in
exercising their right to vote in B&H, concluded that the voting of
the refugees in FRY has been completed successfully. This is
corroborated by the positive reports drawn by all international
supervisors of the OSCE Mission that monitored the voting and had
no objections to the procedure. All the preparations for the
transfer of refugee voters to Bosnia and their trip back. According
to the demands presented, some 120.000 refugees currently living in
FRY decided to go to Bosnia to vote. Most of them will go to the
Republic of Srpska, and a smaller percentage will vote in the
Moslem-Croatian Federation. To ensure the safe trip to and from
Bosnia for such a large number of people, the State Committee
coordinated its with all transfer organizers and with the local
authorities where the poling stations have been set up.
(Borba, September 11, 1996)
[04] FRY IS SHOULDERING THE MAJOR LOAD
According to data revealed yesterday in Geneva by the UN
Economic Committee for Europe, the biggest load in sheltering
refugees is being shouldered by FR Yugoslavia - taking into account
all European countries and the entire region of former USSR.
Yugoslavia is currently taking care of 650.000 refugees, and in the
regions monitored by the UN the next host country is the US with
646.000. The report also indicates that in the past several years
FR Yugoslavia was faced by the largest number of new refugees in a
very short period of time. The same document particularly stresses
that the right of the refugees to return home is one of the most
important elements of the Dayton Agreement, but that - lamentably -
by mid-summer the UNHCR managed to organize the return of merely
70.000 refugees - this being more than a modest result.
(Borba, September 11, 1996)
[05] STRENGTHENING COOPERATION AND TRUST WITH FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS
The Federal Government decided yesterday to submit to the
Federal Parliament the Agreement on the normalization of relations
between FRY and Croatia, and the Yugoslav-Macedonian trade
agreement. The ratification of these bilateral agreements by the
Parliament will reaffirm the determination of FRY to normalize
relations and enhance the cooperation and trust with all former
Yugoslav republics. It has been remarked that this will also be a
major Yugoslav contribution to the advancement of the peace process
and the stabilization of the situation in the region.
(Borba, September 11, 1996)
[06] GREATER TRADE VOLUME
Serbian Prime Minister - Mr. Mirko Marjanovic, received
yesterday Mr. Yanosh Toth - the newly appointed Ambassador of
Hungary to Yugoslavia. During the talks it has been remarked that
both countries are greatly interested in further enhancing mutual
relations. Prime Minister Marjanovic said that the implementation
of the Agreement on economic relations and cooperation signed
recently, might quickly raise the trade volume between Yugoslavia
and Hungary to some 350 million dollars, which was the level before
international sanctions were introduced against our country. Both
sides agreed that the ethnic Hungarians living in Serbia and the
ethnic Serbs living in Hungary are another link that will
strengthen the friendly and comprehensive relations between the two
countries.
(Politika, September 11, 1996)
[07] A DOZEN AGREEMENTS ABOUT TO BE SIGNED
The Yugoslav-Ukrainian relations are highly dynamic and have
a great perspective - said Mr. Genady Udovenko - Foreign Minister
of Ukraine - in an interview for the Belgrade magazine
"Medjunarodna politika". Such a process is prompted not only by
common interests of the two countries, but also by the overall
improvement of the situation in former Yugoslavia. He also
underscored that Ukraine is interested in developing trade and
economic relations, as well as scientific-technical and cultural
cooperation, and that a dozen draft agreements are being prepared
to cover all these spheres. He particularly stressed the Agreement
on partnership and cooperation between FRY and Ukraine, which will
define the prospective evolution of relations between the two
countries.
(Borba, September 11, 1996)
[08] GROWTH OF EXPORTS TO DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
At the very beginning of the second semester, industrial
production rates have risen, exports have grown, and the rise of
prices can be qualified as moderate - states the analysis prepared
by the Belgrade Institute of Economic Sciences. Exports have been
growing since February, and in July the monthly growth rate was
5.6%. In this sense a positive trend has been observed - exports to
developed countries are also growing just like the number of trade
contracts signed by our companies. Exports primarily involve wheat,
fruit, non-ferrous metals, steel, electric machinery and tools.
Ferrous metallurgy has almost recuperated the volume of exports it
had in 1991. (Politika, September 11, 1996)
[09] JOINT APPROACH OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
JUTEF 97 - the business guide of the Yugoslav textile
industry, encompasses more than 4.000 various items of business
information that might interest domestic and foreign operators in
the sector. Two Serbian Ministries - Private Enterprise and
Information - gave their full support to the project to gather
information on all Yugoslav textile companies and publish the
guide, because these activities will promote entrepreneurship in
our country. Along with successful negotiations on presentations of
Yugoslav textile industry potentials in Moscow - JUTEF is about to
conclude agreements on similar presentations in Prague, Salonicco,
Bucharest and Sofia. "Our potentials in textiles and ready-mades
are quite significant, we have great designers and clothes-makers,
but only a coordinate presentation and complete information can
improve things - namely revitalize the Yugoslav textile industry."
- said JUTEF Director - Mr. Vladimir Mitrovic.
(Politika, September 11, 1996)
[10] THE PROBLEM OF REFUGEES IS JEOPARDIZING THE ERDUT AGREEMENT
Dr. Vojislav Stanimirovic - Chairman of the Executive Council
of the Serbian Region of Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and Western
Srem - stated that one can not expect the Erdut Agreement to be
implemented with success until the problem of the return of Serbian
and Croatian refugees is solved. Practically only the first three
items of the document have been implemented. He said that the
fourth one - concerning the return of the refugees has created
insurmountable problems, and added: "We insist that along with the
return of some 60.000 Croats to this region the return of 500.000
Serbs to Croatia be organized, but the Croatian side is only
interest in the return of its own refugees." According to Mr.
Stanimirovic, at the elections that will be staged a month before
the UNTAES mandate expires, all those that lived in the region
before 1991 will vote, but also all the people form other parts of
Croatia that now live and have permanent residence there.
Furthermore, the Serbian side insists on the creation of the
community of Serbian municipalities - allowed for by the Erdut
Agreement - whilst the Croats refuse this using the argument that
this would breach the current Croatian laws on territorial
organization.
(Politika, September 11, 1996)
[11] THREATS OF THE CROATIAN DEFENSE MINISTER
The very day that diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and
Croatia, Croatian Defense Minister - Mr. Gojko Susak made another
threat directed against the Serbs living in the areas involved in
the process of peaceful reintegration, but also against the
international community which is monitoring and promoting this
important process. Speaking about the areas with transitional UN
administration, Mr. Susak said: "I state with full responsibility
that we will tolerate all that until March next year, to allow the
issue to be solved peacefully. Should that fail, another approach
will be used, because our President is to visit Vukovar in April.
Plans have already been made, and only heavens might prevent it."
(Ekspres, September 11, 1996)
[12] BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT: "DEFINITE LIFTING OF SANCTIONS IS IMMINENT"
Unless something unexpected happens, and if no "obstacles"
that are hard to anticipate appear, economic sanctions against
Yugoslavia should be definitively lifted on September 24, with the
adoption of a new UN Security Council resolution.
This is part of the Dayton Agreement, and is also defined by
UN SC Resolution No. 1022, adopted on November 22 last year, one
day after the signing of the peace document. The resolution
approved unanimously by all 15 Security Council members suspended
the sanctions against our country, and its text states that the
economic embargo against Yugoslavia will be definitively lifted ten
days after legitimate and fair elections have been held in Bosnia
and Herzegovina - conceived in Dayton as the common state of two
separate entities - the Moslem-Croatian Federation and the Republic
of Srpska.
The elections in Bosnia will take place on Saturday, September
14. In spite of the demands to postpone the elections made by
various circles and media both in Bosnia and in western Europe -
because allegedly adequate conditions have not yet been created -
the elections in Bosnia have been legitimately called according to
the Dayton schedule and will take place under the strict control of
the international community and an entire army of international
monitors. In spite of the logical difficulties that will inevitably
accompany the first post-war elections in Bosnia , all that offers
certain guarantees that the Saturday elections in the former
Yugoslav republic will be carried out without major problems and
with necessary legitimacy.
As American diplomatic circles stressed, the first
confirmation of legitimacy and validity of the elections in Bosnia
should be given - right after they are completed - by the US Envoy
Robert Frowick - the man in charge of the entire elections process
in Bosnia. In fact, he was the official that suggested to the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to
schedule the elections for September 14th - the deadline set by the
Dayton Agreement.
After that, a special SC session to adopt a resolution on the
definite abolition of sanctions against Yugoslavia, called by the
Chairman of the UN Security Council should be a routine procedure.
Lately, the representatives of the Bosnian Moslems have tried
on several occasions to postpone or block the elections, resorting
to extortions directed against the international community. At the
same time, the statements made by several international community
officials insisted on declaring a priori the elections
insufficiently legitimate or honest, to find another excuse to
avoid the definite lifting of the sanctions against FR Yugoslavia.
On the other hand, other figures tried to create new conditions for
the abolition of the economic embargo against our country. The
Dayton Document, and the subsequent UN Security Council resolution
specify explicitly the conditions and the timing of the abolition
of sanctions against Yugoslavia. On the other hand, our country
clearly displayed determination to promote a peaceful policy which
greatly contributed to the termination of hostilities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the end of the civil war. It is high time for the
international community to acknowledge the Yugoslav peace efforts,
correct the injustice made, and honor its own decisions and
principles.
(TANJUG, September 11, 1996)
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