The Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the Minister of Defense Zukan Helez, together with the Deputy Minister of Defense of BiH Aleksandar Goganovic, on Monday, October 21st, received the newly appointed Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to BiH Elsa Kathrine Biering.
The interlocutors discussed the bilateral military cooperation between BiH and Norway and in particular the engagement of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in BiH as the embassy’s contact for the NATO alliance in our country and in the next two years. In this regard, the Norwegian delegation included two representatives of the Ministry of Defense of the Kingdom of Norway, Director of the Department for International Security Policy Keith Eikenes and Senior Advisor Paal ZandstraKrokeide. The meeting also discussed the political situation in BiH.
Ambassador Biering pointed out that she is extremely glad that she was appointed to the position of the new Norwegian ambassador to BiH. She pointed out that the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, as the contact embassy for NATO, will do everything to help the progress of BiH in the coming period, and invited the hosts to offer their vision of further cooperation.
Minister Zukan Helez thanked Ambassador Biering for several projects that the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH (AFBiH) have already implemented with Norwegian assistance. In particular, this refers to equipping with means for manipulation, video surveillance and destruction of mines and mine-explosive devices in the Technical and Repair Workshop for Ammunition Maintenance in Doboj, procurement of spare parts for trucks for the transport of unstable ammunition, co-financing of assistance programs for deployed members of the AFBiH, projects English language learning, co-financing of the Peace Support Operations Training Center (SOOPM/PSOTC) etc.
”Our main political goal is membership in the European Union(EU), and our political goal is membership in NATO. The Kingdom of Norway is one of our main partners in this. Our political system is extremely complex, and in our country, we face numerous political challenges, which require the consensus of several parties. I am happy to announce that after a certain period of stagnation, within the framework of the Council of Ministers of BiH, we are now making progress regarding the consensus on the Reform Program for this year,” Minister Helez said on this occasion.
