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SARAJEVO, October 4 (FENA) - Deputy Chair of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turković and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden Ann Linde met today in Sarajevo and discussed the current political situation, security, human rights, but also the improvement of cooperation between Sweden and BiH.
At the press conference, Minister Turković reminded that the OSCE had and still has an important role in BiH, especially as a strong support for security, stability and reform processes.
“Security and stability of the entire region of the Western Balkans is the foundation for any progress, for reforms and reaching the European standard of living,” said Turković.
As she added, there is no doubt that great progress has been made in recent decades, but it is obvious that we still have a lot of work to do, which we can see in everyday events not only in BiH but also in other countries in the region.
In the political sense, and on the eve of the important summit of the European Union and the Western Balkans, Turković said that it is necessary for BiH to have firm guarantees for the European future, not only for BiH, but for the entire region.
The topic of the meeting was sustainable development, improvement of the legislative framework, but also the current political situation in BiH, and in that sense it was pointed out that every crisis must be overcome through the institutions of BiH.
The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Minister Linde said her visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina reflected the importance that the OSCE attaches to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a valuable OSCE participating State.
In that sense, she expressed gratitude to the BiH authorities for the excellent cooperation with the OSCE Mission as prescribed by the Dayton Agreement, all with the aim of providing support in building a stable, prosperous and democratic state that serves the interests of its citizens. She reaffirmed the OSCE's readiness to remain present in the region.
During the meeting with Minister Turković, Linde pointed out the need for BiH political leaders to find a way out of the current political situation and continue implementing the necessary reforms in the areas of rule of law, judiciary, democratic governance, media freedom, fight against corruption and organized crime.
The interdepartmental working group, Linde emphasized, must continue its work in order to adopt amendments to the Election Law, as this is of key importance for restoring citizens' trust in the elections and the functioning of BiH.
She is looking forward to further strengthening cooperation between the OSCE and BiH, but also to strengthening bilateral cooperation between Sweden and BiH, and stressed Sweden's readiness to support BiH in the reform process.
"This year, Sweden plans to reaffirm its readiness to support the Western Balkans through the adoption of a new development strategy," Linde said, adding that she would continue to address democracy, human rights, rule of law, gender equality, climate change and the environment.
(FENA) A. B.
