NEWS
PM calls a meeting with foreign ambassadors on holding international donor conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Alenka Bratušek, called a meeting on holding the international donor conference for flood-stricken areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, to be organised by Slovenia in cooperation with France and the European Commission, on 16 July 2014 in Brussels. The meeting with the Prime Minister was attended by foreign ambassadors to Slovenia, namely the ambassador of the French Republic, Pierre-François Maurier, the ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Ranković, and the ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Jerkić, who all thanked the Prime Minister for her initiative to carry out the international donor conference entitled "We reconstruct together", which will be the first international conference organised for the benefit of these two countries.
In her statement for the press, the Prime Minister Bratušek stressed that Slovenia can be proud of the response by its ministries, agencies, NGOs and, in particular, its citizens, who on the occasion of May floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia joined their efforts and showed a maximum degree of solidarity. As regards further cooperation of Slovenia in eliminating the consequences of the floods, the Prime Minister said: "Our wish is to provide for an adequate way of preventing such disasters in the future: a proper system of water management, civil protection and forecast of hydrological events has to be put in place. In this area, Slovenia possesses considerable know-how." She also highlighted the problems relating to still uncleared landmines which were dislodged by the swollen rivers. "New efforts are needed in terms of marking and destruction of these mines. The Slovenian ITF Enhancing Human Security (ITF), is an authority beyond doubt in this area; for this reason, Slovenia will continue to cooperate and provide assistance," said the Prime Minister and announced that she would lead the donor conference next Wednesday jointly with the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, and the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Füle
In his press release, the French ambassador pointed out that in France, intensive preparations for the conference were underway and that yesterday a preparatory meeting was held in Paris, which was attended by about one hundred participants with the aim of determining the needs in the affected areas. He further stressed the importance of attracting as many countries and organizations as possible to participate at the conference. In his words, holding this conference is an expression of synergy between France and Slovenia standing as an example of what two countries can achieve when they join their forces.
