OHR

High Representative
to ChairPIC

The High Representative will this evening and tomorrow chair a meeting of the
Political Directors of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board in

Vienna

. It will be the first such
meeting under the chairmanship of the new High Representative since he took
office at the end of January.

Representatives of BiH led by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan
Terzic will also join the meeting.

The High Representative will brief the Political Directors on progress
BiH has made and the functioning of the domestic institutions. As this is his
first meeting with the full

PIC, the High
Representative will outline his priorities for the next 12 months; namely to
maintain progress towards the EU & NATO, while at the same time the OHR
will continue the process of transferring responsibilities to the BiH
Authorities in order to prepare for the transition to an EUSR Office.

Reflecting this I would draw your attention to the fact that the actual
configuration of the

PIC meeting will be
different. Traditionally the High Representative and his team sat at one end of
the conference table and the BiH PM and his team sat at the other end. The two
sides faced one another. At this

PIC meeting
the HR and the PM will sit together. Obviously this is simply a change of table
settings but it reflects a more important change, one that the HR has emphasised
since taking up his position as High Representative; that is that the IC is no
longer going to act as an alternative source of authority instead it will work
actively to support the democratically elected authorities of the country.

You will also note that this

PIC is taking
place in

Vienna

; this is because the
Austrian Presidency offered to host the meeting; the region is one of the
Presidency’s priorities. The venue indicates the growing role of the EU in BiH’s
future.

There

PIC takes place in the Palais
Ferstel, [Strauchgasse 4] and there will be a number of media opportunities
during the day;

There will be a photo opportunity at the beginning of the meeting at 10.00
and then the High Representative and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers
will hold a short press conference at 11:15 – those journalists interested in attending should
contact then OHR Press Office here in
Sarajevo to register.

The
PIC will, as usual, issue their
communiqué later in the afternoon.

OSCE

No statement.

EUFOR

Signing of Memorandum of Understanding – Joint Venture
Projects

EUFOR is committed to working closely with government and local authorities
in programmes aimed at road, rail, bridge and tunnel reconstruction, through
Joint Venture Projects.  In this EUFOR provides significant finances and
expertise.

The new plans for the forthcoming project phase have now been agreed. 
On Tuesday 14 March 2006, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the
forthcoming Joint Venture Projects programme will be signed between COM EUFOR,
Major-General Chiarini, and the Ministers of Transport and Communication of both
Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Republika Srpska; Ministers Brankovic and
Cubrilovic.  The signing ceremony will take place at 1400.

The media are cordially invited to attend.  All
those attending should meet outside the pedestrian access at the main vehicle
gate to
Camp

Butmir
at 1330 on Tuesday 14 match,
bringing suitable identification documents with them.