Yugoslav Daily Survey, 97-08-12

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT RECEIVES BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER, U.S. ENVOYS

[02] NEW YORK TIMES SAYS MILOSEVIC KEY FIGURE

[03] YUGOSLAV INFORMATION SECRETARY ON MEDIA IN YUGOSLAVIA

[04] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: STABLE PRICES AND RATE OF EXCHANGE OF THE DINAR

[05] GENERAL PERISIC RECEIVES GELBARD

[06] HOLBROOKE: MILOSEVIC ENGAGED ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON ACCORDS

[07] RUSSIAN MEDIA ON BELGRADE VISIT OF U.S. ENVOYS

[08] AGREEMENT REACHED ON EMBASSIES, MILITARY STANDING COMMITTEE

[09] KRAJISNIK SAYS HE WILL NOT URGE PLAVSIC'S REPLACEMENT

[10] SERBIAN MINISTER BEKO MEETS US CHIEF OF MISSION MILES 1997.

[11] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES ECONOMIC POLICY

[12] TOMIC RECEIVES ITALY'S NEWLY-APPOINTED AMBASSADOR IN BELGRADE

[01] YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT RECEIVES BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY MEMBER, U.S. ENVOYS

Tanjug, 1997-08-09

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Sunday received Bosnian Serb member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Momcilo Krajisnik and U.S. Special Envoys Richard Holbrooke and Robert Gelbard.

The meeting focused on the most important issues in speeding up the implementation of the Dayton Accords and economic reconstruction as well as other issues of common interest.

Milosevic expressed belief that the speeding up of the implementation of the Dayton Accords would affirm the equality of the Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Economic problems which are of vital importance to citizens should have priority in the coming period, it was said.

Since progress was made regarding several important issues in the speeding up of the implementation of the Dayton Agreement, Milosevic expressed satisfaction with the degree of agreement reached between Krajisnik and the U.S. Envoys.

Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic also participated in the talks.

[02] NEW YORK TIMES SAYS MILOSEVIC KEY FIGURE

Tanjug, 1997-08-10

A meeting in Belgrade between U.S. Envoy Richard Holbrooke and U.S. delegation and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic focused on the Dayton Peace Accords and its implementation, U.S. media said. The media quoted Holbrooke as saying that the talks with President Milosevic had been constructive, like on all previous occasions.

Several U.S. television stations, including the CNN and Fox networks, broadcast several times the clips of the host and the guest shaking hands and starting talks at the White Court palace.

Holbrooke himself spoke about the aim of the visit to Belgrade. News agencies quoted him as saying that he had arrived to ask President Milosevic to use his influence to speed up the implementation of the Dayton Accords.

The New York Times said on Sunday that because of a big influence of the Yugoslav president, the President Clinton Administration regarded Milosevic as the key figure in talks and contacts with Bosnian Serbs.

Holbrooke will return from his tour of the Balkans, where he spent most time in Bosnia, relatively satisfied, U.S. media said in their initial comments. They quoted Holbrooke as saying that his mission had not been expected to produce spectacular results in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. However, he added that significant steps forward had been made in the past three days, the Associated Press news agency reported.

U.S. press said that Holbrooke himself had quoted as a success an agreement between the three Bosnian sides on diplomatic missions, which was followed by the lifting of a blockade towards Bosnian embassies in the world. Another success was also a major step towards the final establishing of normal telecommunications between Bosnia-Herzegovina and the world. Bosnian Serb assurances that they will do all in their power to unblock talks about the national currency were also received with approval.

The Bosnian Serb officials' assurances that Radovan Karadzic will finally disappear from Bosnia's political scene is also regarded as a certain improvement, media said.

Some comments also voiced criticism of Holbrooke and his comparatively positive assessments of the Bosnia mission.

The New York Times said that Holbrooke had dealt with marginal issues. The daily criticised Holbrooke for not dealing more with the question of repatriation of refugees and other important issues for the survival of a single Bosnia. Instead, Holbrooke restored telephone lines and participated in the division of ambassadorial posts, said the New York Times.

[03] YUGOSLAV INFORMATION SECRETARY ON MEDIA IN YUGOSLAVIA

Tanjug, 1997-08-08

Yugoslav Information Secretary Goran Matic told the Novi Sad magazine Nedeljni Dnevnik in an interview that there had been a media boom in Yugoslavia in the past two or three years.

As an illustration of the freedom of information in Yugoslavia, with a tendency of pluralisation and development of media, Matic said that Yugoslavia had 23 dailies, whereas Croatia had just six. "Croatia also has just one state news agency, while Yugoslavia, in addition to the state news agency, has five private ones," he said.

Yugoslavia has 450 radio and 120 television stations, most of which are private.

"I believe that the countries that have one state radio station and no private ones have not come close to us in developing the pluralist information model and cannot make assessments about the undemocratic quality of our information system," Matic said.

Speaking about a new federal information law, which should be reviewed by parliament in late August or early September, Matic said that unlike the republican ones, this law had some "foreign" elements as well. The law will regulate everything that is defined in other countries, from the work of foreign reporters, news agencies and cultural and information centres to the functioning of foreign information in the country.

Speaking about the announced setting up of a Yugoslav Radio-TV, Matic said that this television had to become a "Yugoslav CNN," and that "by exchanging programmes with other world's stations, it would contribute even more to the clarification and explaining of the truth about Yugoslavia and real processes in our economy, society and politics, because there are still too many distorted facts."

Matic said that the republican televisions were carrying out their function, that they were Yugoslav-oriented, but that it was obvious that the federal state should define its appearance in the sphere of electronic media.

He said that "this television should be completementary with the republican (televisions) but should also broadcast the programme in its own, authentic way."

Matic stressed that Yugoslavia's was a single media space and that the intertwining and integration of the Serbian and Montenegrin information spaces could be clearly seen in a series of segments.

Commenting on the fact that Serbian Radio-TV does not broadcast Montenegrin TV news and vice versa, Matic said that the "currently existing problem between the two companies is a result of political relations in Montenegro and this refers only to the sphere of political and news programmes, because the sports, scientific, cultural and all other programmes are still freely exchanged."

Matic expressed hope that preconditions for a normal exchange of political and news programmes would be created in Montenegro soon. Speaking about a Telecommunications Ministry action, Matic said that it was aimed at making order among the electronic media rather than closing them.

Everything here immediately gets a political dimension, "although many of the stations that were denied a permit did not even have political and news programmes, but have just broadcast 'felicitations and greetings'," he said.

"On the other hand, five stations within the Socialist Party of Serbia company Genes S and the Yugoslav Left's station in Novi Pazar have also lost their permits," Matic said.

Only two of the controlled stations fulfilled the set conditions and their programmes have never been forbidden, Matic said and added that this situation must certainly be resolved.

According to him, foreigners have shown much interest in our media and assistance to "independent" media is distributed through non-governmental organisations, such as the Soros Foundation. Matic said that those protecting their media space should not be too critical towards the others, who also wished to protect their media space.

He said that the new republican and federal laws must regulate the issue of foreign assistance, and added that the country did not wish to ban this assistance, but requested that it be registered and publicly announced so that citizens should know who financed whom.

"Because, if the 'dependent' media are those financed by Yugoslav citizens, then the 'independent' ones are also dependent on those who grant them assistance. So there are no independent (media), there is just the question of who is dependent on whom, (whether) on the Yugoslav citizens and institutions or institutions of some other country," Matic said.

He said that only the newspapers and radio and television stations which realise all their earnings on the market, i.e. from their users, were independent.

[04] FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: STABLE PRICES AND RATE OF EXCHANGE OF THE DINAR

Tanjug, 1997-08-08

The set objectives of the economic policy for this year are essentially being realized - stable prices and the rate of exchange of the dinar, higher production and exports, structural changes and ownership transformation, a better living standard of the population, Yugoslav Minister for Development, Science, and Environment Jagos Zelenovic said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference, he said prices and the rate of exchange were stable, illustrating this with the figures that retail prices had increased 3.3 percent in the first seven months this year, or 0.5 percent monthly, which is the lowest inflation rate in a long time.

Zelenovic pointed out the importance of maintaining the stability of the national currency. Thanks to the measures of a restrictive monetary policy, there is a smaller difference between the official and the black market rate of exchange in comparison with the beginning of the year, he said.

In the first half of the year, industrial production went up 7.6 percent against the corresponding period of 1996, and foreign trade exceeded three billion dollars in value. It increased by 24.1 percent against the corresponding period last year, and exports went up 28.5 percent, imports 21.7 percent.

The living standard increased by 12.4 percent in this period, and the real increase of salaries was 10 percent, which is more than planned or than the increase of the social product.

In parallel with the realization of the above goals of the economic policy, institutional preconditions have been set for intensifying ownership transformation, and there has been a significant inflow of foreign capital, which will form a material basis for the implementation of structural reforms, he said.

The construction of a market system was stepped up by the adoption of reformist laws whose effects are expected to be felt more substantially in the coming period, he said.

The basic concept of the economic policy will remain the same until the end of the year, he said, with emphasis on production and exports, while maintaining stability of prices and the national currency.

Activities will be stepped up to return Yugoslavia to international financial and trade organizations, and secure a normalization of relations with the European Union (E.U.) and other regional organizations and integrations, and also the former Yugoslav republics.

In spite of the invested efforts, there have not been any significant progress or results in this area, he said. In his opinion, this is because of political reasons, since certain international factors who worked on breaking up the former Yugoslavia are now obstructing the establishment of normal relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, The World Trade Organization, E.U., and former Yugoslav republics.

The lack of revolving capital, expressed dinar insolvency of companies and banks, high mutual debts and insufficient accumulation are the main obstacles to the realization of the economic policy, Zelenovic said. The economic policy will also focus on curbing the illegal parallel economy by the end of the year, he said. The Federal Government has been working on this for a month already and the results are already evident, he added.

Regarding public spending, the economic policy will be aimed at due payments of public income on the grounds of existing legal regulations, with the reexamination of real fiscal possibilities offered by the realized level of the social product, the Minister said.

The Federal Government is determined to base economic policy measures on market principles and mechanisms, said Zelenovic.

The quantitative figures for the desired objectives will be reexamined, in particular the targetted industrial production and social product growth rates, having in mind that the results for these six months were achieved in conditions which considerably differed from those expected at the beginning of the year, Zelenovic concluded.

[05] GENERAL PERISIC RECEIVES GELBARD

Tanjug, 1997-08-08

Yugoslav Army Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Momcilo Perisic and his associates on Friday received Special US Envoy to Bosnia-Herzegovina Robert Gelbard, who is on a visit to Yugoslavia with his predecessor Richard Holbrooke. A statement released by the Yugoslav Army General Staff press section said that the open and constructive talks had dealt with the further implementation of the military aspect of the Dayton Peace Accords.

Also attending were chief of US Mission in Belgrade Richard Miles and his associates.

[06] HOLBROOKE: MILOSEVIC ENGAGED ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DAYTON ACCORDS

Tanjug, 1997-08-09

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is fully engaged on the implementation of the Dayton Accords and such activities are essential for the successful realization of the peace process in Bosnia, U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke told a press conference in Belgrade on Saturday, but reiterated that Milosevic was a skilled negotiator who could resolutely defend his interests.

Holbrooke addressed the press together with the other U.S. Envoy, Robert Gelbard.

Holbrooke said Milosevic had doubtless played a constructive role in the two-day talks in Belgrade, which today included Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Member from Republika Srpska Momcilo Krajisnik.

Gelbard said it was their joint opinion that the talks in which views were exchanged on a wide range of issues had been very interesting.

Holbrooke pointed out that President Milosevic had been ready to continue the talks without interruption, but that the U.S. side could not accept this for reasons of logistics. He said Milosevic had asked Gelbard to return to Belgrade as soon as possible so that the talks could continue.

Holbrooke pointed out as very important for the stabilization of the situation in these lands Milosevic's decision to extend an invitation to the three Bosnian Presidency members jointly to visit Belgrade.

He said he hoped the Presidency would accept this invitation and mentioned the earlier successful visit to Belgrade by Sarajevo's Muslim Government senior official Ejup Ganic.

Speaking about the objectives of the latest U.S. mission in former Yugoslavia, Holbrooke said no spectacular results had been expected, but that certain results had nevertheless been achieved in stepping up the implementation of the overall peace accords during the tour of Split, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and Belgrade.

The strong determination of the U.S. Administration regarding the full realization of the Dayton Accords is also evident in the forming of a new U.S. team which will work on this, Holbrooke said. He said Washington remained firm in its stand that all those suspected of war crimes in former Yugoslavia must be tried by the Hague Tribunal.

He said Radovan Karadzic had violated every article of the last year's agreement about his withdrawal from public life, and his recent interview to the German paper Sueddeutsche Zeitung was the latest example of this flagrant violation.

Holbrooke said he and Gelbard had warned Krajisnik about this, who was one of the signatories of that document. Krajisnik had offered personally to guarantee respect of that agreement in future, Holbrooke said, thus showing readiness to secure respect of the Dayton Accords in his current office, Holbrooke said.

Washington will carefully follow if this will be respected, he said, adding that, the way things now stood, it was better to have Karadzic away from the public eye than in public.

Asked by reporters if the talks with Milosevic had covered media and the upcoming elections, Holbrooke said they had, but did not elaborate.

There were some questions about Serbia's southern province of Kosovo, but they were given little attention.

[07] RUSSIAN MEDIA ON BELGRADE VISIT OF U.S. ENVOYS

Tanjug, 1997-08-10

Russian media said on Sunday in reports by their Belgrade correspondents that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and U.S. Special Envoys Richard Holbrooke and Robert Gelbard had agreed during the two-day talks in Belgrade that essential progress had been made in the realization of the Dayton Accords.

The so-called architect of this agreement, Holbrooke, confirmed this himself. Speaking at a press conference in Belgrade, Holbrooke especially praised President Milosevic for his constructive role in the realization of the Dayton Agreement.

Reports, however, emphasized Holbrooke's statement that the realization of plans in Bosnia was taking place with a delay of one year.

Media assessed as a very positive initiative the fact that Milosevic had invited the three members of the Bosnian Presidency to visit Belgrade and proposed to organize their meeting.

There are also media reports about the start of the SFOR action to establish control over paramilitary formations in Bosnia, specifying that they would be disarmed.

Writing along these lines, the reports said that Holbrooke had received approval in Sarajevo from the Muslim and Croat leaders for the disbanding of the secret Muslim police. The main U.S. ambition, however, is to establish control over Serb special units, which Washington considers one of the obstacles to the implementation of the Dayton Accords.

Reports point out that SFOR is supervising paramilitary units in Bosnia, in agreement with the article of the Dayton Accords on the right of international troops to control these units as part of the armed forces of Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

[08] AGREEMENT REACHED ON EMBASSIES, MILITARY STANDING COMMITTEE

Tanjug, 1997-08-08

An agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina's diplomatic and consular missions was reached in a meeting between the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency and former and present US envoys to the Balkans Richard Holbrooke and Robert Gelbard.

The meeting ended in Sarajevo early on Friday.

Serbs will have eleven, Muslims thirteen and Croats nine of the thirty- three ambassadorial posts.

Bosnian Serb member of the Presidency Momcilo Krajisnik said that Republika Srpska's ambassadorial posts will include those in Washington, Paris, Moscow, Canberra, New Delhi and Cairo.

Krajisnik said that the issue of the military standing committee had been resolved and that an agreement was reached on its composition, the way in which the sessions will be chaired and their venues.

The military standing committee will be made up of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency members, chiefs of the Republika Srpska and Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina general staffs, both entities' defence ministers and three other members to be nominated by presidency members Krajisnik, Alija Izetbegovic and Kresimir Zubak. The Republika Srpska will alternate with the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in chairing and hosting the committee's sessions.

The issue of telecommunications was also resolved with the mediation of the US envoys, Krajisnik said. According to him, the Presidency did not reach an agreement regarding the national currency and its design. Muslims tried to evade a previous agreement on two national currency designs - one for the Republika Srpska and the other for the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Krajisnik said and expressed hope that a satisfactory solution to this issue would soon be found.

Krajisnik said that Holbrooke had helped remove many obstacles preventing the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina from receiving credits.

[09] KRAJISNIK SAYS HE WILL NOT URGE PLAVSIC'S REPLACEMENT

Tanjug, 1997-08-08

Momcilo Krajisnik said he had told US envoy Richard Holbrooke that he would not urge the replacement of Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic. Krajisnik said that Holbrooke had shown interest in the current political situation in the Republika Srpska (RS) in the pauses of a Presidency session last night. "I will not urge the replacement of the Republika Srpska President, regardless of the Constitutional Court's decision," Krajisnik said.

He said he had told Holbrooke that it was nothing unusual for a state to function when the president belongs to one party and other officials to another one. He said that the RS would function, although the President was outside the party which had nominated her and said that he would suggest to the Republika Srpska Parliament and Government to pursue their policy in this direction.

[10] SERBIAN MINISTER BEKO MEETS US CHIEF OF MISSION MILES 1997.

Tanjug, 1997-08-07

Serbian Minister for Economic and Ownership Transformation Milan Beko received in Belgrade on Thursday US Chief of Mission in Belgrade Richard Miles, the Serbian Information Ministry said in a statement. The statement said Beko had informed Miles about the process of privatization and economic reform currently underway, especially focusing on a recently passed law on ownership transformation whose implementation was being prepared for October

Beko said that in the process of economic reforms in the country, which had been affected by war and economic sanctions, it was very important to have good infrastructure, good experts and economic experiences what other countries undergoing transition had lacked.

"However, in order to carry out the restructuring of the economic system and implement privatization, which are the major guarantors of an overall democratization of the society, we need economic cooperation with foreign countries and international financial organizations," Beko said.

Miles, for his part, said that he was closely monitoring and objectively reporting on Serbian Government's efforts towards privatization and that the United States was not discouraging economic contacts. He also said there was optimism in expectations to upgrade these relations in the near future.

Beko and Miles both said they were satisfied talks about this issue had begun and agreed to continue them in the future, the statement said.

[11] YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES ECONOMIC POLICY

Tanjug, 1997-08-07

The Yugoslav Government held a session Thursday chaired by Prime Minister Radoje Kontic at which it continued the discussion on the implementation of the economic policy initiated at its last session, and approved measures and activities to be undertaken to this effect by the end of 1997, Yugoslav Information Secretariat said in a statement.

The Government noted that the economic policy goals set for this year were being realized basically as planned, especially as regards the priority tasks of maintaining the stability of prices and of the currency exchange rate.

The price growth rate in the past seven months was 3.3 percent, or 0.5 percent monthly. This is a much better situation than in the past few years and an indication of a general trend towards lower prices, the Government said.

The exchange rate of the dinar as against hard currencies has remained stable, and the difference between the official and the black market rate has been reduced, the Government noted.

Meanwhile, production and exports have risen, production by 7.6 percent (equal to last year's) and exports by 28.5 percent which is higher than last year but with an export volume lower than planned, the Government noted.

The Government assessed that institutional conditions for intensifying ownership transformation had been ensured, which should encourage foreign investments. The standard of living in the country has also improved, the Government noted.

The results that have been achieved confirm the rightness of the economic policy strategy of the Federal Government aimed at building an open market economy and this goal will not be given up in the future, it was underlined at the session.

The Government adopted measures and activities for realizing its economic policy goals by the end of 1997, including growth of production and exports, intensifying the reform process through privatization and structural transformation of the economy, Yugoslavia's reintegration in the international community, especially its international financial and trade organizations and regional and sub-regional communities, fighting "grey economy" and consolidating public spendings.

[12] TOMIC RECEIVES ITALY'S NEWLY-APPOINTED AMBASSADOR IN BELGRADE

Tanjug, 1997-08-07

Serbian Parliament Speaker and acting Serbian President Dragan Tomic received on Thursday Italy's newly-appointed Ambassador in Belgrade, Riccardo Sessa.

Tomic and Sessa reviewed Yugoslav-Italian relations, focusing on the development of parliamentary cooperation between Italy and Serbia, a statement issued by the Serbian parliament's press section said.

They agreed that Serbian and Italian parliamentary delegations exchange visits soon, which they said would contribute to the promotion of parliamentary cooperation between the two states.

Describing the two countries' relations as good and stable, they said the development of all-round cooperation on all levels was in the mutual interest.

Tomic said Yugoslavia was making a maximum effort to help fully implement peace processes in the region and stabilise the situation there, which he said was crucial to the country's economic recovery and its reintegration into all world organisations and institutions.

Sessa showed interest in preparations for coming presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia. In this context, Tomic said the elections would be fair and democratic, saying election conditions were this time more favourable for the opposition than before. He said member states of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe had been invited to send monitors to elections, saying this was in the mutual interest.

Sessa said Yugoslavia and its republic of Serbia played a vital role in preserving stability and peace in the region, saying that, consequently, his country urged Yugoslavia's speedy return to international institutions and stronger ties between Yugoslavia and the European Union where Italy plays an important role.

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article