Brussels, 27 February 2007 at
13.00

Good afternoon and thank you for being here.

It is a pleasure to be addressing you today next to Council of Ministers
Chair, Nikola Spiric for the first time at a Peace Implementation Coucil (PIC)
meeting.

We have had constructive discussions, both this morning and yesterday evening
and I believe a consensus is clearly emerging.

First thing this morning, all three members of the Presidency had the
opportunity to address the PIC.

For the past hour and a quarter, Prime Minister Spiric, has been discussing
his government’s programme with the PIC.

This exchange of views has been extremely useful and PIC Political Directors
have taken note of the various positions they have heard today.

PIC Political Directors have in addition been able to discuss a wide range of
themes, including transition, cooperation with the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague and the wider reform agenda.

As I said earlier, these discussions have been constructive. I am not,
however, able at this stage to provide any additional information about the
PIC’s conclusions and the future mandate and structure of the international
community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I will be coming back at 4 pm to present the PIC communiqué and to explain
the conclusions of the meeting.

In the meantime, I’ll hand over to Prime Minister Spiric.