The delegation of the Macedonian Ministry of Defense, led by the Minister of Defense Talat Xhaferi, visited yesterday the BiH Ministry of Defense, where she met with the top officials of the BiH defense structure with the Minister of Defense of BiH Zekerijah Osmić.
The discussions were focused on progress of defense cooperation within regional initiatives and the obligations of the two countries for NATO membership.
After the meeting, the Macedonian Minister of Defense Xhaferi said that there are no open issues between Macedonia and BiH.
“A common past brings us closer and in this context we do not have any open issues at the political and military level’’, said Minister Xhaferi in a statement for the media.
He underlined the willingness for furthering cooperation of the two Ministries and the Army on the security plan, and in this context for improving regional cooperation within the existing initiatives, such as initiative A5 (American-Adriatic Charter) and other projects.
On the importance of strengthening cooperation and the bilateral and regional plan, indicated by Minister Osmić, he referred to the common aspirations that the two countries share when it comes to NATO membership.
He emphasized that in this regard BiH has one remaining obligation-registering 63 military sites to join the Membership Action Plan, and that Macedonia has one more obligation on the road to NATO membership (dispute with Greece regarding the name of the country).
Minister Osmić said that he expects that this process would come to an end soon, and that NATO membership would be secured for security and economic reasons, as well as the overall progress of the country.
The meeting of the two delegation would an opportunity to talk about the actual operationalization of selected projects that are based on enlargement and strengthening of cooperation between the two Ministries of Defense and Armed Forces of Macedonia and BiH.
