The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zukan Helez, together with the Deputy Ministers Slaven Galić and Aleksandar Goganović, on Tuesday, received the Minister of Defense of Hungary H.E. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky.
Minister Helez thanked the Hungarian minister for the visit, saying that he was happy about the friendly relationship between the two countries. During the meeting, they discussed military-political cooperation, economy, bilateral cooperation, and the focus of the conversation was BiH’s Euro-Atlantic path to the EU and NATO alliance.
“Our countries are geographically close, and as such they share the political, security, economic and other challenges that Europe is facing. On the military front, it is important to point out that BiH and Hungary cooperate in the field of training. The process of harmonizing the bilateral military cooperation plan between the MoD of BiH and the MoD of Hungary for 2024 is underway,” Helez said.
The minister pointed out that BiH is currently the only country that participates in the NATO Membership Action Program (MAP), and is one of the most active NATO partners that use all available instruments of partnership cooperation.
“The most comprehensive framework for our cooperation with NATO is the Reform Program, the form and substance of which completely follows the form and content of the usual instrument within the MAP, which is the Annual National Program (ANP),” said the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The minister added that our country has more and more support from NATO members on a bilateral basis, and thanked Bobrovniczky for Hungary’s contribution through the Support Package for strengthening the defense capacities of the Armed Forces of BiH (DCB). During the conversation, he pointed out that BiH is working on fulfilling 14 priorities for the start of EU accession negotiations.
The Minister of Defense of Hungary emphasized that his delegation is staying in our country as part of the presidential delegation, which is an indication of how important BiH is to them.
“Hungary firmly supports the territorial integrity of BiH and the Dayton Peace Agreement, we are interested in the stability of this part of the Balkans and your country. We firmly support the admission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU, we believe that we need new members. We are dedicated to the “Althea” EUFOR mission in BiH, that’s why I appointed our best general László Sticz to lead this mission in the coming period.
“I am convinced that the new commander will be completely professional and dedicated to his duty,” said Bobrovniczky.
He emphasized that he is glad to hear that BiH can boast of numerous activities when it comes to the NATO alliance.
“Hungary became a member of NATO 25 years ago and we are very committed to the Alliance through numerous activities that contribute to the alliance’s joint efforts to preserve peace in the world. Our members are participants in a large number of missions under the leadership of NATO and Hungary will support your efforts towards membership in the NATO alliance, and we are doing this because we want the security and stability of BiH”, said the Minister of Defense of Hungary.
Deputy Galić thanked the Hungarian minister for his support to Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We are glad that you are working to improve the political, military and economic cooperation between the two countries. I hope that your presidency of the EU in the second half of the year will help us to be closer to membership in the EU and NATO,” said Galić.
Deputy Goganović emphasized that Hungary is a proven friend of BiH and all its peoples.
“I congratulate you on officially taking over the presidency of the EUFOR mission “Althea” in our country tomorrow. I am convinced that the general will do his job well. I want to point out that cooperation between the BiH MoD and EUFOR will be on the priority list,” said Goganović.
