As part of the official visit of the delegation of the BIH Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the BiH Armed Forces to the US, the Acting Chief of the Joint Staff of the BiH Armed Forces General Major Anto Jeleč and the Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Admiral James A. Winnefeld Jr. met in the Pentagon.
On this occasion, Admiral Winnefeld thanked the Armed Forces of BiH for the participation in peace operations in the ISAF Mission in Afghanistan, expressing the importance of peace operations in establishing and preserving peace in the world.
He gave his full support to the cooperation of BIH and Maryland, which is in place for 10 years already through a state partnership program. Admiral Winnefeld was interested in the problems that BiH is facing on the path to NATO membership, and how the US Ministry of Defense could help BIH in this.
During the meeting, General Jeleč spoke of the key problems that are necessary to resolve in the next period, so that BIH could at full capacity implement the NATO Action Plan, which leads to full NATO membership.
Among other things, General Jeleč stressed that the issue of registration of perspective immovable defense property be solved, and classifying and destroyed surplus weapons and mines.
“At the end of the discussion, Admiral Winnefeld said that BIH is a very important partner of the US, and that meetings at this level are important in order to help identify problems and to find the best long-lasting solution in order to ensure stability, security and the prosperity of BIH’’, announced the BIH Ministry of Defense.
