BiH EMBASSY IN BELGRADE UNABLE TO PROVIDE CONSULAR SERVICES AFTER KONAKOVIĆ MOVE

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 2 /SRNA/ - The BiH Embassy in Serbia has informed citizens, businesses and other users of its Consular Department that a decision by Foreign Minister in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković has prevented the diplomatic mission from carrying out legally prescribed consular services.

The Embassy said Konaković's move had effectively halted the collection of biometric data, meaning that as of today it is no longer possible to submit applications at the Embassy for visas for foreign nationals, travel documents for BiH citizens or temporary residence permits for foreign nationals.

"Most visa applications received by the Consular Department of the BiH Embassy in Belgrade were linked to the implementation of strategic projects that the Republika Srpska Government and the FBiH Government had designated as projects of general interest," the Embassy said in a statement.

The Embassy said Konaković's actions had put at risk a number of infrastructure projects being carried out by "Autoputevi Republike Srpske" and the public company Autoceste FBiH, as well as energy projects and other economic and business activities in BiH that depend on foreign workers who submit visa or residence applications through the BiH Embassy in Belgrade.

The Embassy reminded that Konaković had, for political reasons and as previously announced, summoned only employees of Serbian nationality to the Ministry headquarters in Sarajevo for consultations which are not provided for under existing laws or regulations.

"For the first time since the civil war in BiH, a senior Bosniak official in BiH's joint institutions has segregated civil servants on ethnic grounds and summoned them as a group to a meeting, thereby singling them out, causing distress and violating their human dignity," the Embassy said.

According to the Embassy, Konaković's unlawful and discriminatory actions aimed at preventing Embassy employees of Serbian nationality from carrying out their work had, among other things, stopped the first secretary and the only remaining civil servant at the BiH Embassy in Belgrade authorized to collect biometric data from performing his duties in the Consular Department.

"As a result, the Consular Department will be unable to perform these services until the first secretary returns from the consultations in Sarajevo," the BiH Embassy in Belgrade said.