(WASHINGTON—MARCH 5) The Clinton administration stands ready to help American companies compete for an initial $5 billion in contracts to rebuild war-torn Bosnia, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown said Tuesday. Brown announced that he will lead a U.S. business delegation to Bosnia and Croatia on April 2-4 and he encouraged other Western nations attending a conference in Baltimore to join with the United States in bidding for the projects, which are being financed by the United States, the European Union and international financial institutions such as the World Bank."Competition will guarantee the Bosnians a fair price, good products, the best service and sound investments," Brown said to the fourth annual West-East Trade Ministers Conference in Baltimore. The conference, designed to promote increased trade and business ties between the West and former communist countries in Europe, includes top trade officials from the world’s seven richest industrial countries. Next year’s meeting will be held in the Czech Republic.
"Revitalizing Bosnia will be difficult, if not impossible, without the renewal of traditional trade and investment ties," Brown said.
President Clinton last month asked Congress for $820 million to help implement the peace accords in the former Yugoslavia. About one-fourth of the funds were earmarked for economic reconstruction. Brown met Tuesday with Russian Economy Minister Yevgeny Yasin to discuss a Russian decision to ban further imports of frozen chicken from the United States. Brown said that Yasin had offered some "useful proposals" to resolve the trade dispute that has set off alarm bells because Russia is America’s biggest foreign market for frozen chicken, buying $500 million in U.S. chicken exports last year.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman William Roth, R-Del., on Monday urged the administration to suspend foreign aid to Russia unless it drops the ban.
U.S. Department of Commerce
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