Association Bosnia and Herzegovina 2005

(2003-2005)

The Association Bosnia and Herzegovina 2005 had been established on 17 September 2003 to facilitate policy research in preparation of a high-profile international conference on Bosnia and Herzegovina held in Geneva on 20-21 October 2005. Members of the Senior Advisory Board were: Wolfgang Petritsch (chair), Sonja Biserko, Lakhdar Brahimi, Erhard Busek, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Jovan Divjak, Marrack Goulding, Sonja Licht, Božidar Matić, Predrag Matvejević, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, José Maria Mendiluce, Vreni Müller-Hemmi, Manfred Nowak, James C. O’Brien, Jasmina Pašalić, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, Ramesh Thakur. President: Jakob Finci; Executive Director: Christophe Solioz. The Association gathered some 100 established figures as well as emerging voices in an internally-driven process that was closely focused on promoting ownership-oriented strategies during a period that will prove critical for the country’s future development and its very existence as a viable state. The Association was aimed to stimulate a debate based on facts, not partisanship. By facilitating informed debate rather than advocating specific solutions, it intended to act as a catalyst for effective, policy-relevant ideas to emerge and gain influence at a time when the country was – and still is – in urgent need of a vision to achieve full, sovereign statehood.