SAIS Center from Washington responded to "Avaz": You have insulted us

The SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University in Washington reacted today to an article published in "Dnevni Avaz", which claims, citing an unnamed source, that Energoinvest director Enes Čengić "bought" the award he will receive from this center, reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

Namely, in a reaction sent to BiH media, it is stated that the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University in Washington – the best-ranked "think-tank" organization in the US capital, which "makes enormous efforts for many years helping BiH, including encouraging economic development."

- Your article has insulted our Center and all our experts, as well as our efforts to help create an economic partnership between the business communities in the US and BiH. Such public appearances of yours undermine our efforts to provide support for the development of the economy, but also your society as a whole – the reaction of this American organization states.

Also, the published text mentions Saša Toperić, a Sarajevan who works at this Center.

- Dr. Toperić is a world-renowned pianist, he is a senior fellow at our Center and the coordinator of the "Mediterranean Basin" project, which provides significant support to companies from the entire Mediterranean region with the aim of penetrating new markets or further development in primary markets – the reaction states.

In addition, they state that they are aware that the Federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Erdal Trhulj and director Čengić will visit Washington "for two, not nine days as stated".

- Our Center has organized a series of important meetings for them with representatives of the US Department of Commerce, with members of the US Congress who are also members of the committees for energy, defense, and foreign policy, as well as with businessmen from our country who can provide assistance regarding the projects led by Minister Trhulj and "Energoinvest" – they emphasize in the statement, NAP reports.

They clarify, regarding the claims that "Energoinvest" paid for the "Mediterranean Basin" award, that the Center has established an Advisory Business Board which includes an annual membership fee for companies seeking support for creating partnerships with companies from the US.

- You might want to know that the membership fee for companies from BiH has been reduced due to our sentiment towards your country, and that the enormous efforts made by the experts in our Center to promote are a hundred times greater than the financial compensation they receive for it. Rest assured, we will refrain from further reactions to any inaccurate reporting in the future. This time we are reacting because we want to inform the entire Bosnian public about the nature of your shameful claim – say the Washington center.