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| Youth Exchange and Study students, who will soon be departing for the U.S., with Ambassador Moon at the Independence Day Party. |
July 3, 2012
Good evening and welcome to the 236th birthday party of the United States of America! Danuta and I plus the entire staff of the U.S. Embassy thank you for joining us on this fine summer night. Let me offer a special welcome to the Chairman and members of the Presidency, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Entity Presidents, Excellencies, and Eminences who are with us here now.
Birthdays are a time for friends to gather to
celebrate. They are also a time for
reflection: What has been
accomplished? What is to come?
Apart from shoveling a lot of snow, my Embassy team and I have
been very busy over this past year. We
have supported efforts to move Bosnia and Herzegovina to NATO and EU
membership. But – as you know – much
more work is needed. I can tell you that
the United States remains firmly committed to assisting your country achieve
these goals and I urge you to accelerate your necessarily joint efforts in the
reform process in the months ahead. Moreover,
the country needs quick, viable solutions to the current impasses blocking
restructuring the Federation and BiH governments so that BiH can get back on
track. These solutions must be
consistent with constitutional provisions.
On the economic front, we supported the Federation Market
Inspectorate in its efforts to ensure that government agencies and private
businesses are using legally licensed software, benefitting the local software
industry and showing the world that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country that
enforces its laws. The U.S. has also
sent experts in international contract law from the Department of Commerce to train
local judges and help increase foreign investment in this country.
I am very pleased to say that the U.S. has invested nearly
$50 million dollars in assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina this year on
projects that boost education, bring young people together from across entity
lines, train journalists, and empower women.
We have even hosted the country’s first English spelling bee – I think
the winner, Boris from Zenica, is with us tonight. Next month, the first group of American high
school exchange students will begin attending school at Sarajevo’s Second Gymnasium. These are all reasons for us to celebrate.
I like to travel and see the work we’re doing. In fact, I think I have put more kilometers
on my car this year than a CentroTrans Bus.
I have visited Zvornik, Cazin, Foca, Jajce, East Sarajevo, Pale, Tuzla,
Srebrenica, Mostar, Trebinje, Stolac, Banja Luka, Rogatica, Brcko, Zenica,
Prijedor, and dozens of other cities and villages. During all these travels, I must admit to one
recurring thought: Won’t it be nice when the corridor Vc road is completed?
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| Ambassador Moon with Borislav Omerovic (right), the winner of the Embassy's first national spelling bee, along with Dragan Gavran, director of his school, Zenica's Catholic Gymnasium. |
Whenever I make a trip, I always meet with young people. These visits give me the inspiration to never
lose sight of our number one goal: to help Bosnia and Herzegovina join the
European Union and NATO. They also give
me energy and optimism to counterbalance the frustrations over a lack of
progress in politics here. I urge all of
you not to give up. And some friendly
advice to the politicians of this country – you had better start listening to
these young people or they will surely take your jobs sooner rather than later.
And I am so happy that we have our friends from the European
Union with us tonight, who are expanding significantly their efforts here. Now more than ever before we are working
together with the same goals. The
hundreds of millions of Euros they have ready to invest to help develop and
reform BiH will certainly create jobs and strengthen the economy. But more importantly, the reforms that you
will have to undertake to qualify for membership in the EU will strengthen the
fundamentals of this country in democracy, rule of law, economy, and many other
areas that will provide a better future for the people of BiH.
Before we enjoy the food and some traditional American
bluegrass music, I want to wish a special farewell to my deputy, Jonathan
Moore, who will be returning to Washington to direct the Balkans office in the
State Department. I know he will visit
us again soon, but we will miss him greatly.
Sretan put, Jonathan!
Finally, I would also like to thank our friends who helped
sponsor this event, including American University BiH, Rhea Express,
Hewlett Packard, UPS, F-AC F-Autocentar SA, AirAba, Cisco, Teknox Group, ReMax,
Euromedic, BBS, Microsoft, Mibo Communications, Sarajevo Brewery,
McCann-Erickson Sarajevo, S.C. Johnson, Oracle, Coca Cola HBC, and McDonalds’
local franchisee Gliese 581.
Thank you for being here tonight to celebrate America’s
birthday. I hope you enjoy the evening.
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