TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

Cooperation with the I .C.T.Y .On 1 April, 2001, after a period of intense political debate, former F .R.Y .President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested for war crimes . On 28 June hewas extradited to the International . Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia(I.C.T.Y .) in The Hague . Also in April 2001, legislation was passed to enhancethe level of co-operation with the I.C.T.Y . Initially, its effectiveness appearedlimited . However, implementation has improved significantly, particularly sincethe assassination of Prime Minister Djindjic . Under strong internationalpressure a number of indictees have now been arrested and extradited,including the'VukovarThree' (Mile Mrksic, Veselin Slivancanin and MiroslavRadic), Vojislav Seselj, Jovica Stanisic and former Serbian President MilanMilutinovic .Reintegration ProcessSince the change of government in October 2000, the key priorities for SiMhave been to join the European Union and NATO and to rebuild political,social and economic co-operation with its own South East European Region .The international community fully supports these aspirations .In June 2003, SiM finalised an "Action Plan" to harmonise the economic andcustoms systems of the two republics . This Action Plan is required by the E .U .before it will begin a feasibility study on whether SiM can join the Stabilisationand Association Process - the first step in E .U . accession .SiM has also made significant progress in reforming its military, with the aimof joining the NATO Partnership for Peace program . In June 2003, SiMsubmitted a request for formal admission to the program, which it hopes toachieve by the end of 2003 . Outstanding issues are full co-operation with theI .C .T.Y ., continuing the battle against organised crime and corruption,severing connections with Republica Srpska and increased civilian control ofthe armed forces .SiM joined the Council of Europe in March 2003 .Economic OverviewThe SiM economy is recovering from a low base . Apart from significantmismanagement of the Yugoslav economy, the Milosevic regime had stifledthe transition to a market economy that had begun in 1990 under then FederalPremier, Ante Markovic . By 2000, G .D .P . had dropped to 50 per cent of the1989 level and more than 60 per cent of the population were living in poverty .The NATO intervention of 1999 destroyed or damaged a substantial portion ofthe country's heavy industry . The crisis years also caused a considerable"brain drain", with significant numbers of well-educated young people andexperts leaving the country .The new government has faced several major economic challenges : post-warreconstruction ; transition from a communist command economy to aresponsive market economy ; restoration of popular trust and confidence in theTravel Report, Hon. Michael Atkinson, MP . and Ms. Vini Ciccarello MP., August, 2004 88