Bilateral Meetings of Minister Lagumdžija on the Second Day of the UN General Assembly Session



Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina held, on the second day of the UN General Assembly session, bilateral meetings with Foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Macedonia and Republic of Albania, held a lecture at the New York University, and took part as a speaker at a High Level meeting on Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and at the Caspian Forum devoted to linking of regions by gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea.

Dr Lagumdžija held a lecture at the University of New York on theme “Post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina and Way Forward”, on which occasion he addressed both reforms undertaken in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the signing of the Dayton Accords to date and country’s strategic aims. As a special success Dr Lagumdžija noted the defence sector reform, emphasising that Bosnia and Herzegovina wishes to become a member of NATO, not only for the membership itself, but from a wider prospective of European and Euro-Atlantic integrations as a means of transformation of a country in constitutional, institutional, social and economic terms towards country’s full functionality.

At margins of the 68^th session of the General Assembly of UN, Dr Lagumdžija had separate meetings with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Albania Ditmir Bushati, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark Villy Soevndalom, and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Nikola Poposki.

As during yesterday’s bilateral meetings, the focus of the discussions were possibilities for development and intensification of relations between BIH and these countries. Dr Lagumdžija expressed, among other things, interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina for further engagement of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s companies in Albania and organisation of BIH-Albanian Economic Form, as well as for the formation of a Joint Expert Team to include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania for the reconstruction and modernisation of the regional road communication Sarajevo – Podgorica – Tirana. During his meeting with Minister Al Nahyan, Dr Lagumdžija discussed the signing of a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, organisation of the first bilateral political consultations of the two Foreign Ministries, exchange of business delegations’ visits, as well as possibilities of intensification of cooperation in the areas of trade, investments, energy, culture, education, technologies, defence and tourism.

At the seat of the United Nations in New York, Dr Lagumdžija signed, on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), signed by the United States of America on the same occasion, and which specifies the highest common international standards for export, import and transfer of conventional arms.

The ATT provisions contribute to international and regional peace, security and stability by preventing international transfers of arms which might lead to serious violation of human rights, international humanitarian law, breach of the UN Security Council regulations on sanctions, embargo and other international obligations in case of armed conflicts and transnational organised crime and terrorist activities, which undermine peace, reconciliation, security, stability and sustainable social and economic development.

Following the signing ceremony, Dr Lagumdžija attended a high level meeting on the ATT entering into force, organised by ATT initiator Governments: Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Kenya, and United Kingdom, also with the attendance of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mexican president Enrique Peňa Nieto. In his address, Dr Lagumdžija said, inter alia, that Bosnia and Herzegovina is confident about a need for a strict set of rules to be adopted at a global level to regulate and control transfers of all conventional arms.

At the end of the whole-day programme, Dr Lagumdžija took part, as keynote speaker, at the 2013 Caspian Forum devoted to “Commitment to European Energy Security - Southern Gas Pipeline”, organised by the Caspian Strategic Institute (HASEN). Other than Dr Lagumdžija, the Forum speakers were Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Republic of Georgia, Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Croatia, and Republic of Albania Ahmet Davutoglu, Elmar Mammadyarov, Maia Panjikidze, Vesna Pusić, Nikola Poposki and Ditmir Bushati, European Commissioner for Energy Günter H. Oettinger, Special Envoy and International Energy Issues Coordinator  of the Bureau for Energy Resources of the United States of America Carlos Pascual and others.

In his address, Dr Lagumdžija underlined the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor (SBC), as a part of the European Energy Strategy (TEN-E) and diversification of natural gas supply. He stressed that when it comes to gas import, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Macedonia, relies fully on a single provider for the importation of gas, and he expressed his pleasure for the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline Project (TAP) is selected for the transport of Caspian natural gas through Turkey to South and West Europe, which enables the realisation of the Ionian-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (IAP) by which natural gas from the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (juncture in Albania) will be transported to West Balkan countries, which have already started mentioned project. Dr Lagumdžija assessed that the IAP project creates necessary synergy with the TAP project, and prospectively with the South Stream, and that other than significant economic benefit for all transit countries, it bears also a great strategic importance for additionally strengthening of cooperation of all countries participating in the project.

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