One of the topics of the summit in Madrid will be Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ahead of the summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the organization’s aid package to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
There was a consensus on our membership in NATO in our country, while the current member of the Presidency of BiH, Milorad Dodik, did not change his position on that.
BiH is in partnership with NATO and as such has the task of annually drafting a program and program framework for cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance. According to the chairman of the Commission for Cooperation with NATO, the reform program for 2022 should be ready in two months.
Josip Brkic, the Chairman of the Commission for Cooperation between BiH and NATO: “The reform program for 2021, ie 2022, is now in the final phase of preparation. It is expected that the public debates, as it was last year, will pass very soon. Of course, by August 1, we will try to have a reform program for 2022. before the Council of Ministers “.
The NATO headquarters in Sarajevo reminds that the Partnership for Peace countries choose their own priorities for cooperation and the level of progress. At the request of the BiH authorities, work is currently underway to increase transparency and parliamentary and civilian oversight of the armed forces, train military personnel, and advise on planning and developing capabilities and equipment. Work is also under way to assist in the development of budgetary, logistical and procurement procedures, the development of capacity to respond to civilian emergencies and disaster management, and to raise the interoperability of the Armed Forces.
“Our mission is to support peace and stability in BiH and the region – to help with modernization, reforms and the way forward. Each of our partners works with NATO in a way that suits them – and every decision on membership is ultimately a matter for BiH. Here we are, at the call of the authorities, to help advance vital reforms. ”
It is a known fact that in Bosnia and Herzegovina there is no common position on membership in that military alliance. RS officials are pursuing a commitment to military neutrality.
“We have a consensus for cooperation. And then the more BiH peoples and citizens see what the concrete benefits of cooperation with NATO are, the easier it will be for us to decide once, like any sovereign country, whether to transfer part of our sovereignty to NATO membership or not,” Brkic added.
