The High Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, remains in Vienna
today, following two days of deliberations by the Political Directors of the
Peace Implementation Council Steering Board. This morning the High
Representative will address representatives of the 55 participating states of
the OSCE, at the organisation’s Permanent Council.

The High Representative will discuss ways of optimizing the working
relationship between the OHR and the OSCE. As the OHR downsizes – it has already
gone from more than 800 staff members to just over 300 in the last two years –
its operational capacity and its methods of working have changed substantially.
The OSCE, by contrast, will have a permanent and substantial engagement with
Bosnia and Herzegovina and currently is the only one of the international
organisations to maintain an extensive field network in the country.

Therefore the High Representative will today propose the creation of a
Working Group, under the co-chairmanship of Senior Deputy High Representative
Peter Bas-Backer, to co-ordinate in a “continuous and productive way” OHR-OSCE
activities in the fields of elections, education, human rights and justice
reform.

“We can only move forward in broad policy areas with the support of the
entire International Community – and in several areas only with the specific
support of the OSCE,” the High Representative points out in his speech. “Better
co-ordination between my Office’s top-down and the OSCE’s bottom-up approach in
the non-governmental sector, particularly in terms of providing each other with
available expertise and resources, could significantly contribute to the
development of an informed, active and engaged civil society in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.”

In his remarks, the High Representatives emphasises the importance of the
outcome of the general elections scheduled for this October. “This will
determine the success or failure of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s transition to a
market economy and its final push for Euro-Atlantic integration, ultimately for
membership of the EU and NATO,” he notes.

The High Representative also discusses his top policy priority –
promoting the faster economic development of BiH and working to ensure that real
benefits from economic reform are delivered to citizens. He notes that “We are
in a race: poverty and unemployment versus political stability,” and he says
that he will focus his energies on promoting further improvements to the
business environment and attracting investment to BiH.