PRESS CONFERENCE

Sarajevo, April 24th, 2009.

Press Release

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sven Alkalaj and Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria Michael Spindelegger Hold a Press Conference

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sven Alkalaj and Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria Michael Spindelegger held a press conference on April 24th, 2009 in the MFA of BiH after an earlier meeting.

In his statement, Minister Alkalaj expressed satisfaction at Minister Spindelegger's decision to visit our country at the beginning his mandate and assessed that this shows how important cooperation with BiH is to Austria. As he informed the members of the press, the two officials concluded that bilateral relations between the two countries are excellent, economic cooperation has been improved, and the trade deficit has been reduced. In that sense, they also agreed to activities aimed at furthering economic cooperation.

Minister Alkalaj told the members of the press that he had acquainted Minister Spindelegger with BiH's foreign policy goals, with special emphasis on EU visa liberalization for BiH citizens. Considering that BiH is a candidate for nonpermanent membership of the UN Security Council for the 2010-2011 term and that Austria was elected a nonpermanent member of this body for the 2009-2010 term, the two sides also agreed to a cooperation between the Missions of the two countries to the UN and the two Ministries in addition to the support expressed earlier by Austria for our country's candidacy.

Minister Spindelegger voiced satisfaction at the meeting with Minister Alkalaj and the visit to BiH. He assessed that relations between the two countries are excellent and that the visit serves as a confirmation of these relations as well as an opportunity to further enhance them. Minister Spindelegger was able to learn first hand about BiH priorities. He reaffirmed Austria's commitment to assisting our country and its interest in building on economic relations. He particularly emphasized his country's support of BiH's candidacy for UN Security Council nonpermanent membership, expressing the hope that next year Austria and BiH will be members of the Council together. He informed the members of the press that the two had also discussed how to improve regional cooperation and that, in this regard, Austria has expressed interest in including BiH more actively in cooperation processes between the Danube Basin countries.