Brigadier General Giselle M. Wilz, Commander and Senior Military Representative of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters in Sarajevo believes that the primary focus of the upcoming summit of NATO in Warsaw will be on main events which are happening around us, starting from migrations, then the influence of Russia in the present world, to terrorist activities. It is expected that BiH will receive certain praises regarding the progress achieved, especially for its participation in peacekeeping missions and registration of military assets, although the condition from Tallin is still not met.
“Several member countries especially insist on achieving a political consensus in order to show the commitment of your country to the NATO,” stated Wilz in an interview for Oslobodjenje.
When asked about the registration of military assets as state property, which is a condition for the activation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP), Wilz said that the Minister of Defense of BiH invested great efforts in that. Twenty four locations were registered, all in the Federation of BiH. A lot of technical work is done for other locations as well. However, either litigations are in progress or registration of locations is simply rejected, depending on where they are.
“No significant progress was made since November last year. When the condition in was set in Tallin, it was not just about military assets, because we know that other countries need it, too, in order to perform tasks, but there was a desire to see this country showing readiness to reach difficult decisions. This condition was set so that BiH would show that it can reach a political census,” said Wilz, believing that Republika Srpska largely blocks this, “although we see that some litigations appear now around property issues, i.e. opposition to the registration of property to the state of BiH and in the FBiH”.
However, Wilz highlighted that NATO headquarters does not overly intervene with political processes on the highest level in BiH. That is left for Brussels or delegations of member countries who are there, or for ambassadors of NATO member countries here. When asked how BiH is positioned on the path towards NATO right now, Wilz said she sees progress when speaking about, what is called in the army, from tactical to strategic level.
“In the reforms which are being implemented by the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH, we help in a way that we work with them in order to increase transparency in the personnel system, which will be in accordance with laws, as well as by working with them on improving regulations in the field of procurement, which will eventually enable modernisation. Moreover, we help in drills that BiH performs in order to achieve compatibility. All this makes BiH achieve partner goals from the program of the Partnership for Peace which this country signed with NATO,” said Giselle Wilz.
(Source: klix.ba/photo: dvidshub.net)
