The Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg is scheduled to pay an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on November 19th, and an important meeting of NATO members will be held in December in Sarajevo.
According to information, Stoltenberg is scheduled to arrive in Sarajevo on November 14th, where a day later he will have meetings with Defense Minister Zukan Helez, Foreign Affairs Minister Elmedin Konakovic, and the Chairperson of the BiH Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo.
It is possible that during his stay in the capital of BiH, he will hold several more meetings and visit the NATO base in Butmir, where he will hold talks with the organization’s leaders, but also with EUFOR soldiers and other security forces.
The fact that NATO is seriously observing BiH is indicated by the following information – at the end of the year, a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) officials will be held in Sarajevo.
It is planned that on December 19th and 20th, an important meeting will be held in Sarajevo at the level of ambassadors of NATO members with the presence of Stoltenberg’s deputy Mircea Geoana. There is also an option for the head of NATO to come to Sarajevo again for that meeting
Next year, BiH will also host the NATO partner symposium, which will be a strong signal and support for BiH from NATO, and it is the most important event for NATO besides summits and ministerial meetings.
At the last NATO summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, BiH was invited as a partner country along with Moldova and Georgia. This confirmed the full commitment of the Alliance to our country, regardless of the numerous obstructions of one part of the country (the Republika Srpska (RS) entity) on the Euro-Atlantic path of BiH.
What is the NAC, which will have a meeting in Sarajevo?
The NAC is the principal political decision-making body within NATO.
It oversees the political and military process relating to security issues affecting the whole Alliance. It brings together representatives of each member country to discuss policy or operational questions requiring collective decisions, providing a forum for wide-ranging consultation between members on all issues affecting their peace and security.
Policies decided in the NAC are the expression of the collective will of all member countries of the Alliance since decisions are made on the basis of unanimity and common accord.
The Secretary-General chairs the NAC and its decisions have the same status and validity at whatever level it meets, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.