The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, said that the Dayton Peace Agreement was the right decision that stopped the war and brought peace to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“It was a project led by the United States of America, but also the most successful American project because it stopped the war,” Konaković said at a forum at the spring session of the NATO PA and a forum dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Speaking about the significance of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Minister Konaković referred to his participation in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina thirty years ago as a minor fighter. He recalled that because of that fact he knows how valuable peace is.
He stated that today, as a politician, he sits and negotiates about the future of his country with people with whom he was literally in conflict thirty years ago.
“However, it is a much better option than war,” Konaković said.
Speaking about compromises and trying to find a solution with the people he fought against 30 years ago, the minister said that today he is sitting with people who “continue to deny genocide and who celebrate war criminals and criminals, and who allow it to be taught in the education system of the BiH entity of RS”. He warned that this is very dangerous.
He pointed out all the complications and complexity in BiH, with many political challenges, but that all of this is much better than war. He said that diplomacy is possible, as is peace. He stated that there are possible solutions to this situation that we are going through today in BiH and that possible solutions are on the table, such as BiH’s membership in the EU and NATO. He said that we must be brave and strong to find a solution and continue working on the prosperity of our country.
He also addressed the problem of young people leaving our country as well as discrimination in the electoral process. He concluded that we need courageous leaders with plans and solutions, as well as integration, first of all, into NATO, and then into the EU, as well as investors, who will enable the economic progress of BiH because we have a beautiful country with many potentials and natural resources.
The moderator of the panel was former US Ambassador to NATO and US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, while the panelists, in addition to Minister Konaković, included the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Gordan Grlić Radman, High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt, and former US Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia Peter Galbraith.
