5. November 2006
To whom it may concern
The
World Congress of the Bosnian Herzegovina Diaspora represents the interests of
1.5 million Bosnians who now reside outside of Bosnia Herzegovina. In the UK
alone, over 10,000 Bosnians made the UK their new home, with the vast majority
finding refugee in the UK during the aggression on Bosnia Herzegovina from
1992-1995.
Today,
the Bosnian Herzegovina community is a vibrant and successful community in the
UK, making their mark in all fields of expertise and contributing to the diverse
and successful enterprises in the UK. Similar to other diaspora’ they have
become the link between their country of birth, being Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and their new chosen country of residence, being the UK. This link is
multifaceted, serving all sectors of the community, inclusive of the private and
public sector, diplomatic core and most recently has established itself as a
strong link for commercial and business enterprises.
The
UK is considered to be the gateway to the world, a central focus for
destinations worldwide, and yet we note that there are no direct flights from
the UK to Bosnia Herzegovina, Sarajevo or Banja Luka. The 10,000 plus strong
Bosnian Herzegovina community is at a significant disadvantage when travelling
to Bosnia Herzegovina, and these trips are very frequent and numerous in terms
of numbers of potential passengers. But, equally important the lack of direct
flights to Bosnia Herzegovina is a significant disadvantage to the commercial
business sector in both the UK and the USA who transit via the UK, thus creating
a disincentive for UK commercial enterprises to establish closer business ties
with Bosnia Herzegovina.
We
ask you to consider most favourably the request of the Bosnian Herzegovina
community to establish a direct flight between the UK and Bosnia Herzegovina. We
are certain that the commercial reality of such a direct flight will be
achieved. As the formal representatives of the Bosnian Herzegovina diaspora
worldwide we pledge to promote the establishment of the new service to our
Bosnian community worldwide, thus creating the potential for many Bosnians to
include the UK as their transit destination from other countries on route to
Bosnia Herzegovina.
We
thank you in advance for your time and kind consideration of our request and we
hope the outcome will be positive.
Yours sincerely
Senada Softic-Telalovic
President of the Bosnia Herzegovina World Network