Ex- Yu States Agree to Divide Assets Worth $65m

The handover of 44 properties in OECD countries is due to be completed by next August.
Two decades after the violent collapse of Yugoslavia, the former republics are finally accelerating the process of dividing diplomatic property.

Representatives of the five successor countries - Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia - have agreed in principle on the dynamics of the transfer of properties located in 44 OECD countries, worth a total of $65.4 million (€47.9 million).
This deal should see Serbia gain 20 buildings or funds from the sold buildings worth from $26 million (€19 million).

By year’s end Serbia should also become the official owner of embassies in Rome and Berlin, the embassy and residence in Athens, as well as ambassadorial residences in London and Lisbon.

Tuesday saw negotiators from the former Yugoslav republics in Sarajevo to participate in the 15th meeting of the Joint Committee on allocation of the diplomatic assets of SFRY. The agenda included the implementation of agreements on the handover of 15 facilities, as agreed at a meeting in Belgrade in May.

According to this agreement, Serbia is to gain a building in Prague and residences in Washington and Ottawa. It was noted that all buildings are now occupied by new owners, except the Rome residence.

The Sarajevo meeting was also used to seek an acceptable model for the sale of the embassy building in Bonn and a residential apartment in New York, while the first future task will be to determine the exact value of properties.

“According to an announcement of the authorized American agency, the Fifth Avenue apartment is worth between $10 and $12 million (between €7.3 and €8.8 million), while the Embassy in Bonn has yet to be valued,“ said Vladimir Curguz, Secretary General of the Serbian Foreign Ministry and the country’s representative in the succession process.
Serbia should receive 40 per cent, or around $4.8 million (€3.5 million), from the sale of the New York apartment, after having spent more than $2 million (€1.5 million) to maintain this residence.

According to Curguz, participants of the Sarajevo meeting also positively assessed cooperation on the exchange of works of art that were located in the former embassy buildings and diplomatic residences.

Preliminary talks were also held on the continued division of former Yugoslav assets in the regions of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the rest of Europe, while it was agreed that the next meeting – likely to be held in Zagreb in November – would see each of the successor states present the confirmed views of their respective governments.