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Bosnian funding

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KUALA LUMPUR: The top civilian official overseeing the Bosnian peace process, Carl Bildt, confirmed Sunday the upcoming donor conference would be held as scheduled even without the Bosnian Serbs.

"The second donors' conference in Brussels will go ahead even though there is not much progress from the Bosnian Serbs," Bildt was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying in Kuala Lumpur before leaving for Tokyo.

He said he was confident there would be a positive outcome from the weekend conference which 50 to 60 countries are expected to attend. Malaysia is expected to be represented by Defence Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

The conference hopes to raise about 1.2 billion US dollars in pledges for the reconstruction of Bosnia this year to add to the 600 million US dollars in pledges made last year.

Bildt was quoted as saying Saturday the Bosnian Serbs would likely be excluded from the conference because of their failure to release all prisoners of war.

During his two-day stopover here to drum up support for the rebuilding of Bosnia, he said Malaysia - as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference - had an important role to play to help in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Balkan state.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi have indicated their willingness to help, Bildt said.-AFP