PIC Communiqué outlines
priorities

As you know the Political Directors for the

PIC Steering Board met in

Paris
yesterday. Last night they
issued their joint communiqué.

Yesterday you received a copy of the commemorative communiqué
that was issued to mark the tenth anniversary of

Dayton
. The details that I am about
to announce today are drawn from the text of the regular communiqué issued after
every
PIC meeting outlining current policy
priorities.

The Political Directors for the

SAA negotiations, but noted that the speed of
BiH’s progress in these negotiations will depend on the commitment and hard work
of BiH’s political representatives, as well as on the effectiveness of the
institutions.

In particular, they stressed the need to make significant
progress on police reform, on ICTY cooperation.

They welcomed the recent commitment by political parties to
pursue constitutional reform, but urged them to meet the March 2006 deadline for
the first phase of reform, and thereby honor their agreement made on 21 November
in Washington .

They also expressed concern about the lack of frequency with
which the Council of Ministers meets, noting that the Council of ministers has
only met five times in the past three months, and has adopted only four laws.

On police reform, they urged the Council of Ministers and
appropriate authorities in BiH to ensure that the Directorate is fully staffed
by the 31 December deadline set by the BiH authorities. They said that police
reform is essential in the fight against organized crime and terrorism and said
that the
PIC will monitor progress on police
reform very closely.

On ICTY, they expressed their sharp dissatisfaction with the
lack of recent cooperation – noting that the two most wanted war criminals
Mladic and Karadzic remain at large. They noted that the recent arrest of
Gotovina, in which the Croatian authorities cooperated, represents the kind of
approach that the BiH authorities must emulate.