Urgent formation of an expert and legal team to represent BiH's interests in the Trgovska Gora case

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH Staša Košarac organized an urgent video conference today to discuss Croatia's intention to build a repository for radioactive and nuclear waste at the Trgovska Gora site, immediately near the border with BiH.

The video conference was attended by the Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of Republika Srpska Srebrenka Golić, Federal Minister for Environment and Tourism Edita Đapo, members of the parliamentary group "Green Club" Saša Magazinović and Jasmin Emrić, as well as the mayor of Novi Grad Miroslav Drljača.

The participants of today's video conference stated that the decision of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy of Croatia to hand over the location of the former military depot Čerkezovac for use by the Fund for Financing the Decommissioning and Disposal of Radioactive Waste of the Krško Nuclear Power Plant, testifies to the clear intention of the neighboring country's authorities not to abandon the construction of the controversial repository in close proximity to the border with BiH.

Košarac informed his interlocutors about the meetings he had on this topic with the Ambassador of Croatia to BiH Ivan Sabolić, and the relevant Croatian Minister Tomislav Ćorić.

During the video conference, it was emphasized that the competent institutions at all levels of government in BiH have a unanimous stance on the unacceptability of disposing of radioactive waste in close proximity to the border, as it would endanger the health of 250,000 residents in 13 municipalities in the Una River basin, as well as the environment. It was also warned that this is a serious security problem, given that it is a very seismically active area.

It was concluded at the video conference that the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH will submit a comprehensive report to the Council of Ministers of BiH in the coming days, in which it will request the formation of a coordination team, as well as an expert and legal group through institutional action, which will deal with this open bilateral issue with Croatia, and that funds for the aforementioned groups be planned in every budget projection of BiH institutions. It was also concluded that it is necessary for all competent institutions to strengthen diplomatic activities in order to prevent Croatia from designating the site in question as the final one for the storage of radioactive waste.