“The new US administration of President Donald Trump is still very dedicated to the partnership with Europe and close cooperation with European partners. We still believe in the importance of stability and prosperity in Europe, including the Western Balkans and therefore BiH,” said Deputy Assistant of the Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Hoyt Brian Yee.
Hoyt visited BiH for the first time after the arrival of Trump’s administration, and he noted that the new administration is very interested in strengthening existing partnership and alliances, as well as NATO, but also to hold responsible countries that do not respect international laws and territorial integrity of other countries.
Hoyt Yee met with Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Denis Zvizdic and the Prime Minister of the FBiH Fadil Novalic, while Prime Minister of the RS Zeljka Cvijanovic was not able to attend the meeting with him.
“We exchanged our views on the current situation in this country, the progress of reforms, how the United States can continue with the support of BiH and its efforts to fulfill the goals in order to become a member of the EU and NATO. We also discussed the time before the elections in 2018, and our hopes for even bigger progress on reforms before the elections,” said Hoyt Yee.
Asked if he will meet with the President of the RS Milorad Dodik, Hoyt Yee said that he is “limited in time” and will not have any additional meetings with political leaders.
“As you know, Ambassador and I are of course ready and we would love to meet with all leaders in BiH who honestly want to have a constructive and open attitude and a sincere partnership with us on the basis of transparency and good will. We have that relationship with many leaders in BiH, and we hope that their number will be increased,” stated Hoyt Yee.
“I would say that we are sending a similar message in the region as well. We are committed to the stability and security of the Western Balkans. We are also committed to the success of BiH and full implementation and compliance with the Dayton Agreement and strengthening of the rule of law and prosperity in BiH. We insist that our partners respect the law and the Constitution of BiH, we expect them to fulfill obligations towards us, the international community, and primarily the citizens of BiH. We firmly believe that the institutions of BiH – including the Constitutional Court – must be respected. So, if the institutions that are part of the Constitution are not respected, if the decisions of the Constitutional Court are not respected, people who are responsible for this should be held accountable. The USA is fully supporting the efforts of institutions of BiH to implement laws and to hold accountable all those who are violating the laws and decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH. And we will support institutions of BiH in seeking the responsibility of leaders of BiH. Unfortunately, this is not the problem only here, in BiH, but in the entire region as well. We can see instability, lack of the rule of law, the absence of economic growth, high unemployment rate etc. We can also see the relationship between these phenomena and high rates of corruption, as well as leaders and other persons who are not held responsible for it. We can see all of that and the role of the international community is very important for us, particularly in BiH, where we and other representatives of the international community are guarantors of the Dayton Peace Agreement,” stated, among other things, Brian Hoyt Yee for “Oslobodjenje”.
(Source: FENA)
