accordance with the EU's regional approach and conditionality policies and with the EU's Declarations of 8 June and 7 September.

5. The Council expresses its satisfaction at the readiness of the European Union, as stated in its Declaration of 8 June, to establish closer and more intense relations with BiH and at the establishment of an EU/BiH Task Force, with the aim of helping BiH to become a fully-functioning State and to meet some of the technical prerequisites to closer co-operation with the European Union.

6. In addition to building on the implementation of this Declaration and on the work of the Task Force, the Council expresses the hope that in 1999:

• the European Union and BiH reinforce and make a more active use of the EU/BiH Consultative Task Force.The Council welcomes the fact that issues such as judicial reform, education, media, good government and economic reform have a priority in the work of this Task Force. The Council invites the BiH authorities to follow up the recommendations of the Task Force.

7. The Council welcomes the intention of the European Union to intensify the dialogue on political and economic issues with BiH in order to ensure the closest involvement of the European Union in civilian implementation of Dayton agreement, which will contribute to stability and cooperation in BiH and to bringing BiH closer to European standards.

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