The new ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to the United Nations (UN), Zlatko Lagumdzija, spoke about what he intends to do in the ambassador’s position, as well as about lobbying and the role of the United States (U.S.) in BiH.
He expects to travel to the UN headquarters in New York at the end of next month and to start work as soon as possible. He announced that BiH will be the initiator of a series of events on sustainable development and geopolitical challenges at the UN. According to him, there are already prepared activities.
“For the UN to be present here as much as possible. In our agenda. The UN in BiH has as many as 800 people who are engaged in various projects. These are potentials that we need to make better use of,” said Lagumdzija.
Lagumdzija noted that two weeks ago there was a meeting of the new ambassadors, member of the Presidency of BiH Denis Becirovic (SDP) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konakovic (People and Justice – Narod i Pravda – NiP). He pointed out that they also discussed lobbying on that occasion.
“One of the points is a completely new attitude towards lobbying. We completely neglected it and left it to individuals. Our biggest lobbyists are Edin Dzeko and Dzanan Musa. We saw that the HDZ in the West successfully lobbied what we got with (High Representative Christian) Schmidt”, he said.
Also, he reminded that the president of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik (SNSD), as he stated, has been pumping money into lobbying for years. Commenting on the opinion of some that Dodik did not gain much, he asked what Dodik’s status would have been if he had not lobbied.
Lagumdzija emphasized that he will use his friendships for the benefit of BiH and told that many of his friends are actually friends of BiH.
He stated that now there is an opportunity for BiH, especially when it comes to the U.S. He proved with the statement that the most important positions in this country are held by those who know BiH – President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Ambassador to BiH Michael Murphy, U.S.Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill and Blinken’s assistant for Europe James O. ‘Brien, whom he pointed out, literally wrote the Dayton Peace Agreement.
When it comes to the mentioned officials, he said that they are persons to whom the adviser does not have to explain who is who in BiH, which he believes has happened for the first time and he is not sure if it will ever happen again in the U.S., Klix.ba reports.
