Numerous Activities of Mr Lagumdžija i New York



Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dr Zlatko lagumdžija attended a general debate of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, and took part at a high level meeting devoted to prevention of sexual violence in armed conflict and a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Contact Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On the same day, Dr Lagumdžija held separate bilateral meetings with Foreign Minister of Montenegro Igor Lukšić, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign Minister and Minister for Law of the Republic of Singapore  Kasivishvanathan Shanmugam Abdulaziz, Minister of foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Libya Mohamed Abdulaziz, and Foreign minister of the Kingdom of Bahrein Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bih Mohammed Al Khalif, discussing with them the economic issues.

The discussions were on possibilities for improvement of bilateral relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and mentioned countries individually, focusing on economic issues and investments. Dr Lagumdžija, among other things, expressed the interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the continuation of a successful cooperation with Montenegro, and return of BIH companies to Libyan market. The Libyan Foreign Minister offered on this occasion his assistance in resuming contacts and return of BIH companies to Libya in which, according to him, the security situation improves on a daily basis. Also, he called on the BIH side to make an analysis of the existing situation and to send a delegation to Libya in order to jointly develop modalities of the return of our companies to the Libyan market.

At the margins of the Un general Assembly session, Dr Lagumdžija had separate meetings with Vice President of the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton, Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom of great Britain and Northern Ireland William Hague, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the republic of Italy Emma Bonino, foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden Carl Buildt, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Finland Erkki Tuomioj, and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland, on which occasion he inform them of the up-coming  activities concerning the Sejdić-Finci ruling, and ways of a more active participation of the European institutions and EU countries in the whole process.

A trilateral meeting was arranged of Foreign Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Serbia and Republic of Turkey, during which Dr Lagumdžija discussed with Ministers Ivan Mrkšić and Ahmet Davutoğlu about organising a trilateral ministerial–level meeting devoted to economic issues, to be held in Belgrade by the end of this year. Dr Lagumdžija especially emphasised a need to encourage business community representatives of the three countries for more frequent mutual meetings aimed at intensification of business cooperation and trade, in addition to the preparation of joint business initiatives. In that respect, he expressed his full support to holding of a trilateral meeting of Ministers in charge of economic issues and cooperation, planned to be held in Sarajevo in early October.

In his address at the high-level meeting on prevention of sexual violence in armed conflict, organised by the UK foreign Minister William Hague and UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for prevention of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict Zeinab Bangura, Dr Lagumdžija said that violence against women is one of the most brutal manifestations of violence which calls on all counties of the world and all international organisations  to stand against it. He emphasised that Bosnia and Herzegovina endorsed a Declaration on Commitment to Prevention of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict and its objectives, and that our country stands ready to provide needed contribution in dealing with this issue.

At the meeting of the Islamic Organisation for Cooperation Contact Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dr Lagumdžija assessed that the cooperation of BIH with IOC counties needs to be improved and modernised, especially in the sphere of economy. In that context he informed the participants that the priority of BIH diplomacy in 2013 is the organisation of bilateral business fora and representation of BIH as a partner country, including the presentation of BIH economic potentials and economic vision of the country. He mentioned official visits paid to the State of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, State of Qatar and Republic of Azerbaijan, adding that visits are planned to other ICO countries. He expressed his confidence that new chapters in development of economic cooperation are open in this way, and that it is the right time to invest additional efforts to raise the economic cooperation between BIH and the IOC countries to a much higher level.

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