Representatives of the European Movement in BiH in the occasion of farewell visit at the Czech Embassy in Sarajevo met with Ambassador Jiri Kudela, who is leaving our country at the end of this month after a successful mandate.

The organization’s secretary general handed the plaque of the EM “European Friend of BiH 2009” to the Czech Government and the Czech presidency of EU in the period January 1 – June 30 2009.

EM representatives underlined the enormous engagement and support the Czech Republic provided to BiH I EU integrations processes in order for our two countries to improve and strengthen cultural, economic and social relations during Ambassador’s Kudela mandate in BiH.

EM in BiH on behalf of BiH citizens thanked the Czech Republic and Ambassador Kudela for the support of education system, including number of students who study in Prague, Brno and other cities of this friendly country.

Ambassador Kudela during the acceptance of the plaque repeated that the Czech Republic stays a great friend of BiH, as well as partner and a lobbyist for BiH within EU.

He especially underlined the importance for termination of visa regime for BiH citizens, but in order for this to finally happen, domestic politicians would have to invest much more effort.

(Fena)

BiH Commission to preserve national monuments repeated today the opinion that the authorities should design the route of the corridor 5-C through Herzegovina which will not have negative impact on cultural and historical heritage on that area especially on Pocitelj and Blagaj.

BiH Commission to preserve national monuments repeated today the opinion that the authorities should design the route of the corridor 5-C through Herzegovina which will not have negative impact on cultural and historical heritage on that area especially on Pocitelj and Blagaj.

The Commission Chair Amra Hadzimuhamedovic reminded today that this Commission has also earlier warned that the mentioned route on the corridor 5-C envisaged by the concept design significantly endangers cultural and historical heritage and that it should be reexamined.

She explained that, besides Pocitelj and Blagaj as two extremely valuable monuments, larger number of national monuments in BiH as well as 46 archaeological localities would be endangered with the envisaged route.

Hazimuhamedovic said that for the new route, that is the object of dispute at the FBiH Government, it can not be said with certainty that it does not have negative impact on cultural and historical heritage on that area, but it can be said that “in any case it has less negative impact”.

(Fena)

Ecobank Transnational Ltd., the Lome, Togo-based lender, said it will “arrange and syndicate” a $300 million facility to finance the debt of Ghana’s lone oil refinery.

Ecobank’s investment branch, Ecobank Development Corp., was contracted by the Ghanaian government to “advise on the financial restructuring of Tema Oil Refinery,” Chief Executive Officer Arnold Ekpe said in a statement published in the Accra- based Ghanaian Times today. Ecobank’s Ghanaian unit will also act as an adviser.

The advisers will review the refinery’s debt and arrange another facility of $300 million to “strengthen Tema Oil Refinery’s balance sheet,” Ekpe said.

The state-owned refinery, based about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the capital, Accra, has been out of operation since early this year for maintenance and recently because of difficulties it is having in sourcing supplies of crude.

Ghana is set to become one of Africa’s newest oil exporters in late 2010 when production begins at the offshore Jubilee field, which was discovered in June 2007 and has potential resources of as much as 1.8 billion barrels, according to Tullow Oil Plc.

Ecobank Development Corp. was co-adviser on Ghana’s $750 million sovereign bond and lead adviser on its sale of Ghana Telecom to London-based Vodaphone Plc., according to the statement.

(Bloomberg)

Bank of England official Andrew Haldane said the crisis has shown that big banks are less stable than smaller ones and called for a revamp of lenders’ business models to make the financial system more resilient.

“There is not a scrap of evidence of economies of scale or scope in banking — of bigger or broader being better — beyond a low size threshold,” Haldane, the bank’s executive director for financial stability, said in a speech yesterday in Leeds, England. “Big banks have if anything been found to be less stable than their smaller counterparts, requiring on average larger-scale support.”

Finance minister Alistair Darling has stopped short of suggesting a breakup for the biggest lenders in his plans to revamp rules governing the industry. Nobel-Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said this week that some banks may have become even larger now, evidence that financial system problems are “worse than they were in 2007.”

“Loss of trust has been the root cause of the devastating impact felt globally since the credit crunch began,” said Haldane. “It also explains why the road to recovery in credit, and thus in the real economy, may be long and winding.”

King said earlier this year that banks that are too big to fail are too big to exist. The U.K. opposition Conservative Party says it will scrap the Financial Services Authority regulator and hand powers over lenders deemed too big to fail to the central bank if it wins the next election due by June 2010.

Darling’s Plans

Darling has pledged more intrusive supervision of Britain’s largest banks, forcing them to hold more capital and taking steps to improve competition and curb executive pay. His recommendations stop short of requiring limits on their size.

Haldane said that there may be “diseconomies of scale” for banks to enable long-term relationships between borrowers and lenders.

“The desire to make loans a tradable commodity led to a loss of information, as transactions replaced relationships and quantity trumped quality,” Haldane said. “Within the space of a decade, banks went from monogamy to speed-dating.”

Haldane also recommended that banks not bundle services or diversify to prevent spillovers if one part of the business runs into trouble. He said that the business model of a mutual or a building society, where the banks’ savers and borrowers are also its owners, would diminish incentives for bankers to engage in risky deals for higher profits.

Haldane called for banks to initiate change instead of waiting for regulators to impose it.

“In repairing public trust, it would be preferable if banks were seen to be initiating root and branch reform themselves, rather than having it thrust upon them,” he said.

Enhanced regulation measures including higher capital and liquidity buffers will help to cleanse balance sheets, though they may be insufficient to rebuild public confidence in the banking system, Haldane said.

“It is lack of trust — and hence credit — that may shape the recovery,” Haldane said. “Based on past evidence, as the Governor has noted recently, we might anticipate a protracted period of repair.”

(Bloomberg)

German investor confidence rose to the highest level in more than three years in September after the economic recovery gathered strength and stocks surged.

The ZEW Center for European Economic Research said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict developments six months ahead, increased to 57.7 from 56.1 in August. Economists predicted the index would rise to 60, the median of 39 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Improving factory orders, exports and business confidence suggest growth is accelerating after Germany unexpectedly exited its worst recession since World War II in the second quarter. The benchmark DAX index has rebounded 52 percent from its March trough and reached the highest level in almost a year last week as companies worldwide from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to Bayer AG posted better-than-projected earnings.

The ZEW’s gain “may be less than expected, but it’s still good news,” said Klaus Baader, chief European economist at Societe Generale in London. “It does however show that the pace of the upswing can’t be maintained. Next year is going to be more difficult with unemployment rising and government stimulus petering out.”

ZEW’s gauge of the current economic situation rose to minus 74, less than economists had forecast, from minus 77.2 in August. The euro fell about a fifth of a cent after the report was published, to $1.4590 at 11:30 a.m. in Frankfurt.

Deep Recession

The Economy Ministry has indicated its forecast for a 6 percent economic contraction this year may be too pessimistic.

Improving global trade is boosting demand for exports while the government’s 95 billion-euro ($138 billion) stimulus package is spurring spending at home. The package includes infrastructure investment and a 2,500-euro payment for people who trade in their old car and buy a new one.

Bayer, Germany’s largest drug maker and a supplier of plastics to the car industry, on July 29 posted net income of 532 million euros, beating the 393.1 million euros forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Economic growth may slow as stimulus packages expire and rising unemployment damps consumer spending. The 5 billion-euro “cash-for-clunkers” fund, which boosted new vehicle registrations by 22.8 percent in the first five months of the year, ran dry earlier this month.

Rising Unemployment

While Bundesbank President Axel Weber has predicted the third quarter “will again signal a strong pick-up,” he said on Sept. 4 that a more robust global recovery is needed for Germany to overcome all its economic weaknesses. The Bundesbank expects unemployment to rise to 10.5 percent in 2010 from 8.3 percent today as companies cut costs to restore profit.

“Economic growth will be very bumpy next year,” said Arnd Schaefer, an economist at WestLB in Duesseldorf. “We won’t see a real upswing until 2011. Unemployment will hit next year and be a real damper.”

The European Commission yesterday forecast that the German economy will barely grow in the fourth quarter after expanding 0.7 percent in the three months through September. It grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter from the first.

The DAX is still 10 percent below the level it was at before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc collapsed on Sept. 15 last year, triggering a global recession.

Germany’s Kiel Institute for World Economics said on Sept. 9 that Europe’s largest economy will shrink 4.9 percent this year and expand 1 percent in 2010.

European stocks advanced for a seventh day, the longest stretch of gains since August 2007, as companies from Caterpillar Inc. to DuPont Co. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.

William Morrison Supermarkets Plc jumped 10 percent after saying earnings will beat its forecasts. Actelion Ltd., Switzerland’s biggest biotechnology company, added 3.9 percent after raising its sales and profit outlook for the year. Nokia Oyj slipped 2.9 percent after Morgan Stanley recommended selling shares of the world’s largest maker of mobile phones.

Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.9 percent to 215.17 at 12:40 p.m. in London, heading for a close at the highest level since November. The measure has climbed 9.1 percent since July 10 as companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Johnson & Johnson posted better-than-estimated results and the Conference Board’s gauge of the U.S. economic outlook increased for a third straight month.

“Going forward, we should make gains,” said Jeremy Beckwith, who oversees $9.9 billion as chief investment officer at Kleinwort Benson in London. “Data is showing that later this year and next year economic growth is returning.”

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.4 percent today as Caterpillar, the world’s biggest maker of construction equipment, reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates and lifted its 2009 forecast.

DuPont Earnings

DuPont, the third-largest U.S. chemical maker, posted second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as the company eliminated jobs and sold more genetically modified crop seeds. UnitedHealth, the top U.S. insurer by sales, said second- quarter profit more than doubled, beating analysts’ estimates on higher premiums and growing Medicare enrollment.

Per-share earnings beat projections by an average of 14 percent for S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly results since July 8, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Analysts estimate profits for companies on the S&P 500 fell an average 33 percent in the second quarter and will decrease 20 percent from July through September.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1.4 percent after Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said the global economy may have bottomed.

The S&P 500 yesterday climbed to its highest level since November, as a gauge of future economic growth topped projections and speculation grew that CIT Group Inc. will avoid bankruptcy. CIT announced an agreement with bondholders to provide the emergency financing late yesterday, keeping the 101- year-old commercial finance company out of bankruptcy.

Credit Suisse Strategy

Even so, CIT’s $3 billion financing pledge from bondholders may fail to shield the commercial lender from about $10 billion of debt maturing through next year, mounting loan defaults and a shrinking market share.

Credit Suisse Group AG switched its preference for government bonds in favor of stocks and raised its estimate for the S&P 500 by 14 percent to 1,050, citing improving economic indicators and earnings. Investors should increase holdings of global equities to “overweight” and reduce government bonds to “benchmark,” reversing a decision made in June, according to London-based global strategist Andrew Garthwaite.

Morrison soared 10 percent to 278.5 pence, the steepest intraday increase since February 2007. The smallest of the four main U.K. food retailers, said full-year results will be “ahead of its earlier expectations” after taking sales away from its larger competitors.

Actelion

Actelion advanced 3.9 percent to 59.75 Swiss francs. Switzerland’s largest biotechnology company said sales and cash earnings before interest and taxes in local currencies will rise 16 percent to 19 percent this year. Previously, Actelion had forecast a 12 percent to 15 percent increase in revenue and a 10 percent to 12 percent gain in earnings.

Nokia slid 2.9 percent to 9 euros. Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares to “underweight” from “overweight,” citing rising competition.

BASF SE, the world’s biggest chemical supplier, advanced 2.3 percent to 32.71 euros after boosting profit at its Indian subsidiary through cost cuts.

Norsk Hydro ASA rose 3.4 percent to 32.28 kroner. Europe’s third-largest aluminum producer was raised to “outperform” from “neutral” by Exane BNP Paribas.

Playtech Ltd., the U.K. developer of gambling software for PartyGaming Plc, plunged 22 percent to 354 pence after saying full-year trading would be below analyst estimates.

The William Hill Online joint venture with William Hill Plc took longer to start up than anticipated, Playtech said. William Hill, which said today that it is “comfortable” with the consensus of analysts’ estimates for the joint venture, lost 4.2 percent to 191.75 pence.

(Bloomberg)

India’s minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has ruled out the country’s agreeing to specific targets for reducing carbon emissions.

“There is simply no case for the pressure that we [India] — who have among the lowest emissions per capita — face to reduce emissions,” Ramesh told visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday (19 July).

“And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours,” Ramesh said. These tariffs are charges levied on companies for the carbon dioxide they produce while manufacturing goods.

Ramesh says that detailed modelling studies carried out in India show that even if gross domestic product grows by 8–9 per cent over the next two decades, India’s emissions will be below that of developed countries.
He also said India sees “a critical role for international technology cooperation in enabling countries like India to adapt to climate change”. India, in collaboration with the UN, will host an international meeting on climate change technology issues on 22–23 October, in New Delhi, which is expected to culminate in a statement for inclusion in any agreement to be reached in Copenhagen in December.

Although developing countries expect a concrete adaptation fund to be put in place in Copenhagen, developed countries have not yet committed themselves to any specific contributions, Tove Maria Ryding — a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Denmark and chair of a coalition of 92 nongovernmental organisations — told journalists from developing countries last month (June).

Technology transfer is being linked to how willing developing countries — especially Brazil China, India and South Africa — are to commit themselves to reducing emissions, she says.

A press release from India’s environment ministry on 19 July says Ramesh suggests a three-pronged approach for India–US collaboration on climate change as a way forward. The first is to set up an India–US forum on climate change technology, with initial funds from the two governments to kickstart it. The two countries could engage in joint research in solar energy, biomass, clean coal, high-voltage power transmission, smart grids and wastewater utilisation, he suggests.

The second is building institutional capacity for climate change research and its impacts, and the third is collaboration between the two countries on environmental planning, regulation and management.

India’s future plans in this area include establishing a science-based national environmental protection authority and a national ‘green tribunal’ to serve as an environment court — a specialist court for environmental issues.

• This article was shared by our content partner SciDev.net, part of the Guardian Environment Network

‘Nominal gross domestic product in 2008 was 24.716 million Bosnian marka ($18 million), while the real growth was 5.42 percent,’ agency head Zdenko Milinovic told a news conference.

Bosnia’s central bank had projected a 6 percent economic growth in 2008 but later revised it down to 5.5 percent.

Milinovic said that processing industries and trade were the main contributors to GDP, accounting for 15.1 and 13.6 percent respectively. Public administration and real estate made up 10 and 9.5 percent respectively.

GDP per capita amounted to 6,435 marka, Milinovic said.

Like many other East European countries, Bosnia has been forced to take harsh austerity measures to respond to the global economic downturn.

The International  Monetary Fund (IMF), which this month approved a $1.57 billion stand by deal for the Balkan country, expects a three percent economic contraction this year and zero growth in 2010.

Bosnia is made up of two highly autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, which co-exist under a weak central government.

($1=1.37 Bosnian marka)

”Recommendation of the EC is an utmost form of discrimination against citizens of BiH who posses one and only Bosnian citizenship”, said the letter.

The foundation also stated that after the failed politics of EU during the war in BiH and failure to prevent the genocide over Bosniaks in Srebrenica in July 1995, 14 years later the same EU brings a decision to further isolate BiH.

This open letter in just a few hours was signed by more than 80 civic society organizations form BiH and neighboring countries.