[Source: Reuters]

Why still no burger bars in Bosnia, asks US envoy

SARAJEVO (Reuters)

The U.S. ambassador to Bosnia complained Tuesday about the pace of economic reform there, saying that five years after the civil war ended the world's most ubiquitous burger chain was still absent from its streets. 

Thomas Miller, speaking at a conference with other Western envoys, also said there had been recent "disturbing" developments in the privatization process. Miller said the fact that U.S. fast food giant McDonald's was not yet present in Bosnia was an example of difficulties facing foreign investors.

"If you can't get McDonald's into a country you can't get anything into a country," he said. "We keep on cutting through red tape and there is more red tape before us still."

"I really do hope that we'll all be eating McDonald's burgers by this fall," he said.

Miller acknowledged that there had been some progress this year in the sell-off of state assets.
But, he added: "There are a number of things that have developed in the last several months that we find disturbing." 

Miller cited as an example the sale earlier this month of the Holiday Inn hotel in Sarajevo, suggesting that more bidders should have participated. He estimated the hotel had been sold for less than $3 million in cash and in vouchers issued to compensate Bosnians for wartime losses such as frozen foreign currency savings.

"Our concern is that there is a need for enough knowledgeable bidder sin a process like this," he said. "Clearly if you're going to get the top price for a property like this you need to treat domestic and foreign investors equally." The head of the European Commission's office in Sarajevo, Hansjorg Kretschmer, stressed the need for transparency in selling state property, saying there was otherwise a big risk that assets would be sold below their value.

The privatization authorities earlier dismissed similar criticism, saying they had informed several potential foreign investors about the Holiday Inn tender and advertised it in international media.

Western officials involved in work to rebuild Bosnia have often voiced frustration over what they see as a lack of local political commitment to implement structural reform designed to reduce Bosnia's dependence on massive foreign aid. They say such changes are crucial to attract foreign investments as donor assistance is starting to dry up.