25 September 2010

Meetings of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Sven Alkalaj at the margins of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Sven Alkalaj met on September 24, 2010, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Greece, Mr. Dimitris Droutsas and the UNDP Assistant Secretary of the UNDP Office in New York, Ms. Rebecca Grynspan, at the margins of the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

During the meeting, Minister Alkalaj and the Minister, Mr. Droutsas exchanged information about the political situation in BiH and Greece in the context of the forthcoming elections and exchanged invitations for visits at the high level.

Minister Alkalaj expressed gratitude for Greece’s ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement and support for liberalization of visa regime and the overall support provided by Greece to BiH within the process of accession to full membership into the European Union and NATO. He initiated the organization of the business forum for the business communities of BiH and Greece, whose goal would be to improve the business cooperation, trade exchange, raising the level of investment and the overall economic cooperation between the two countries.

Minister Droutsas expressed his country’s determination to continue to provide support to BiH and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations in the future.

During a meeting with the Assistant Secretary, Ms. Grynspan, Minister Alkalaj thanked for the previous engagement of the UNDP in BiH, especially in the area of realization of the Millennium Development Goals and support to the development of local communities, process of removing unexploded ordnance and programs related to the development of renewable energy and its rational use. He urged UNDP to continue its quality work in BiH, stressing that its benefits feel all citizens, particularly those in rural areas and disadvantaged community, because, mostly they are the target group of the UNDP activities.

Assistant Secretary, Ms. Grynspan emphasized that the UNDP mission in BiH is actively working on implementation of its programs, and assessed that BiH will probably accomplish all its efforts within the Millennium Development Goals. She stressed out that the index of human development in BiH is high, but the unemployment is still one of the most important problems and, in this context, further efforts should be made.