In 2002 the BIS concluded it had "no further role to play" in connection with this negotiation under the terms of the 2001 succession agreement. "The position of the BIS in this regard has not changed," the bank responded to an STA query.

The statement comes after renewed disagreement between Slovenia and Croatia in the wake of the bank's response to a request that it mediate in a dispute regarding deposits held by Croatian residents in the Zagreb branch of the Slovenian-owned LB bank.

While the content of that letter was not made public, Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić said earlier this week that the BIS said the issue was not in its jurisdiction, a statement that Slovenia's Karl Erjavec denied and described as Pusić's "interpretation".

The BIS explanation for the STA notes that negotiations on this issue had been carried out among representatives of the five successors to Yugoslavia between 2001 and 2002.

At their last meeting in Basel on 5 July 2002, the representatives were unable to reach a consensus on a proposal put forward by the independent BIS expert for a possible solution to the guarantee issue.

The expert decided to terminate his involvement in the matter and the BIS concluded that it "had no further role to play in connection with this negotiation under the terms of the Agreement of 29 June 2001 on Succession Issues", a position it says has remained unchanged.

The BIS did say, however that it was willing to "provide meeting facilities to the parties in relation to further contemplated negotiations to be conducted directly between them".