Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-06-03

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From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV JUSTICE MINISTER RECEIVES HEAD OF ICRC DELEGATION

[02] CRAWFORD: DONORS TO MEET IN BRUSSELS ON JUNE 24 OVER BOSNIA

[03] BOSNIAN SERBS DISCUSS DISARMAMENT WHILE MUSLIMS AND CROATS GET ARMS

[04] NEW ROUND OF TALKS ON SUCCESSION TO EX-YUGOSLAVIA OPENS IN BRUSSELS

[05] SERBIAN ASSISTANT MINISTER RECEIVES SOUTH KOREAN BUSINESS DELEGATION

[06] YUGOSLAV AND GERMAN COMPANIES SIGN CONTRACT FOR SETTING UP JOINT VENTURE

[07] KONTIC: DESTINY OF THE BALKANS IS CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH THE DESTINY OF EUROPE

[01] YUGOSLAV JUSTICE MINISTER RECEIVES HEAD OF ICRC DELEGATION

Tanjug, 1997-06-02

Yugoslav Justice Minister Zoran Knezevic met on Monday with Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation to Yugoslavia, Thomas Merkelbach.

A statement issued by the Yugoslav Information Secretariat said Merkelbach had informed Knezevic about the ICRC's current activities.

Expressing satisfaction with the meeting, Knezevic said Yugoslavia made great efforts to secure legal and all other preconditions for the protection of people living in its territory who needed that kind of help, regardless of their ethnic and religious origin or their political orientation.

Merkelbach showed interest in the treatment of persons held in custody and prisoners, saying Yugoslav prisons were in keeping with European standards. He said he hoped the ICRC delegation would soon be enabled to visit persons held in custody, the statement said.

[02] CRAWFORD: DONORS TO MEET IN BRUSSELS ON JUNE 24 OVER BOSNIA

Tanjug, 1997-06-02

Britain's Ambassador in Sarajevo said in Banja Luka late on Monday that the Sintra, Portugal, session of the Dayton Accord Implementation Council had laid the ground work for a Donors' Conference on Bosnia to be held in Brussels on June 24.

Ambassador Charles Crawford told Banja Luka Radio Big that the Sintra meeting had clearly shown that there must be a legal framework for investment and a Central Bank if the international community were to send economic assistance to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Crawford said there was no reason to inject funds into either of Bosnia- Herzegovina's entities unless the funds were to be effective and unless the people could agree among themselves.

Common sense would not allow money to be put in unless it would be used rightly, he said.

He said that the Dayton Accord was not bad for the (Bosnian Serb) Republika Srpska, adding that Bosnia-Herzegovina could well be the most decentralised state in human history. He said he believed that the Republika Srpska had enough responsibility and authority as a Bosnian entity.

There were many things in the Dayton Accord that were useful for the Serb people, but the Republika Srpska must accept the part of cooperation demanded under the Accord by the international community, he said.

[03] BOSNIAN SERBS DISCUSS DISARMAMENT WHILE MUSLIMS AND CROATS GET ARMS

Tanjug, 1997-06-02

A delegation of the (Bosnian Serb) Republika Srpska met in the entity's political centre of Pale on Monday with officials of the Sub-regional Arms Control Consultative Commission to discuss arms reduction.

The two sides reviewed the implementation of the Vienna Arms Control Accord of earlier this year and the Commission's next session, called for June 18 in Vienna.

Special attention was devoted to the United States' 'Equip and Train' programme for Bosnia-Herzegovina's Muslim-Croat Federation.

Meanwhile, Agence France Presse reported on Monday that arms for the Muslim- Croat Federation were being unloaded in port Ploce off two ships from the United Arab Emirates.

According to the AFP, the shipment contains 3,911 tonnes of arms, including 50 tanks, 41 armoured personnel carriers (APC), 22,000 howitzer shells and 50 containers of spare parts for tanks and APC's.

AFP said the tanks were french-made AMX-30's and the APC's were Panhard AML- 90's.

The Republika Srpska's delegation asked the Commission's Chairman to have the arms shipment for the Federation inspected and included in the arms reduction programme for former Bosnia-Herzegovina, so as to ensure a balance of power between the Entities.

[04] NEW ROUND OF TALKS ON SUCCESSION TO EX-YUGOSLAVIA OPENS IN BRUSSELS

Tanjug, 1997-06-02

A new round of talks in the task force on succession to former Yugoslavia, attended by representatives of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the former Yugoslav republics, opened in Brussels on Monday afternoon.

The task force is reviewing a new draft memorandum which, as conceived by Chairman Sir Arthur Watts, should furnish a basis for regulating relations among the states created on the territory of former Yugoslavia.

Kosta Mihajlovic, who heads the Yugoslav delegation, said after meeting with Watts before the task force opened session, that although the process had been slow, there had been progress made.

In substantiation, Mihajlovic said that one of the most important questions - the question of identification of state property - had been nearly settled.

He said that the Yugoslav delegation regarded results achieved to date as encouraging and took the view that negotiations should continue.

He said he believed that the task force should perhaps meet more often, go into details, discuss questions unbroached or only touched upon so far.

The participants in Monday's discussion agreed that the draft memorandum could be a good basis for further work.

As some of the delegations had tried to impose certain conditions, the Yugoslav delegation sought and obtained Watts's confirmation that the text would be discussed without conditions and that amendments would be noted without debate. The session resumes on Tuesday.

[05] SERBIAN ASSISTANT MINISTER RECEIVES SOUTH KOREAN BUSINESS DELEGATION

Tanjug, 1997-06-02

Serbian Assistant Minister of Industry Budimir Stakic received on Monday a delegation of South Korea's Daewoo Corporation, headed by Kim Kyung Yun, Director of the Corporation's Budapest Office.

The two sides said they wanted to resume cooperation that had been on the upturn before the imposition of the U.N. Security Council sanctions on Yugoslavia in late May 1992, a statement issued by the Serbian Information Ministry said.

The statement said the focus should be put on cooperation in the sphere of industry as well as on foreign investment in motor and electrical equipment industries and banking. It said cooperation could also be set up in the field of hotel industry.

The statement quoted the delegation as saying Daewoo wanted to import wood, copper and aluminium.

The two sides also discussed the Serbian Law on ownership transformation which, along with the Laws on foreign investment and concessions, constitutes a broad framework for foreign companies to invest in other branches of economy like telecommunications, the statement said.

[06] YUGOSLAV AND GERMAN COMPANIES SIGN CONTRACT FOR SETTING UP JOINT VENTURE

Tanjug, 1997-06-02

The Sabac-based Polimit company and Germany's Lauchhammer Saniter company signed at the Yugoslav Embassy in Bonn on Monday a contract for setting up a joint venture.

The contract, signed by Polimit's owner Bogoljub Bozic and Ernestos Warwarusis of Lauchhammer Saniter, envisages that the joint venture, which will be based in Sabac's free zone, manufacture baths and bathroom fittings.

The first phase of the 2.5 million-german-mark-worth contract will amount to 500,000 german marks.

Yugoslav Foreign Trade Minister Borislav Vukovic, who heads a delegation of Yugoslav officials and businessmen visiting Germany, said this was the 46th Yugoslav-German contract following the lifting of the anti-Yugoslav sanctions.

Vukovic said Sabac had managed to meet the conditions set by the German partner, saying this would enable Polimit to improve the quality of its goods and to increase production.

He said joint ventures of this kind would make it possible for the Yugoslav economy to appear on the E.U. market.

Warwarusis said Polimit's products would be sold on the Yugoslav market already this month as well as on markets of neighbouring and other European countries.

He said the success of this venture would open the door to other projects that Lauchhammer Saniter intended to realise in Yugoslavia.

The Yugoslav delegation, which also attended the signing of the contract, will start the presentation of the Yugoslav economy's potential at Germany's Industrial and Trade Chamber later in the day.

[07] KONTIC: DESTINY OF THE BALKANS IS CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH THE DESTINY OF EUROPE

Tanjug, 1997-06-03

The Programme of the Yugoslav Government has four strategic goals: the building of a modern, democratic and social State, reintegration of the country into international community, creation of an open and dynamic trade economy, as well as the increase of the standard of living and social security of people, stated the Yugoslav Prime Minister R. Kontic in an interview published today in the Vienna paper "Die Presse".

By specifying economic goals, Kontic has stated that the stabilization and recovery of the economy is the task of primary importance, and that the achieved results in this respect are very good.

"The growth of industrial production and foreign trade is evident, budget deficit is completely overcome, monthly rise of the prices amounts to less than 0.8 per cent, exchange rate is stable for almost 20 months," reminded the Yugoslav Prime Minister.

The President of the Federal Government has also pointed out that the great part of the economy of the country has been privatized. He has added that this process will be accelerated during this year and expressed his conviction that the forthcoming privatization of big enterprises will be interesting for foreign investors.

Answering to the question about the relations between Belgrade and Vienna, Kontic has stated that Yugoslavia and Austria has a long tradition of bilateral relations and sufficient number of common interests in continuing the further development of these relations.

"Both sides believe that the relations must be intensified and that both sides must work on this," Prime Minister Kontic has pointed out and underlined that about 300 000 Yugoslav citizens living and working in Austria constitute an important bridge between the two countries.

The FR of Yugoslavia is interested in normalizing relations with the OSCE, which has its headquarters in Vienna, on the principle of equality. There is no reason for further suspension of the membership of Yugoslavia in the OSCE, Kontic has pointed out and added that cooperation and security in this part of Europe cannot be accomplished without an active participation of Yugoslavia.

"We are for a democratic and open society and that is why there are differences which are sometimes dramatized. It is important that specific interests of both republics be respected," said Kontic making comments on the relations between Serbia and Montenegro in the Yugoslav Federation.

Critics that Montenegro is in a subordinated position to Serbia comes from the opposition parties which are not for the Federation as a community of equal republics and citizens. The laws and practice illustrate that the situation is completely different, Mr. Kontic has pointed out recalling the Constitutional provision that president of the FR of Yugoslavia is elected from one federal unit and prime minister from the other, and that Serbia and Montenegro have the same number of deputies in the Council of the Republics of the Federal Parliament.

The Yugoslav Prime Minister has assessed that there are different initiatives for the strengthening of cooperation and dynamization of the development in the Balkan region, the destiny of which is closely connected with the destiny of Europe.

I see the Balkans in an immediate future as a region in which people, goods and capital could freely move, without any restrictions. At the same time we will establish ties with Europe and be integrated into overall development of Europe," concluded the President of the Federal Government in an exclusive interview given to the Vienna paper "Die Presse".

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