Defense Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sifet Podzic participated in the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of last month.
At this historic meeting, Minister Podzic, in an interview for the TV series “Our Strength”, he spoke, among other things, about the future status of EUFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, bearing in mind that in November the Security Council of the United people should pass a new resolution on EUFOR and that there is a possibility of a veto by some countries on the extension of EUFOR’s mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The result of all this is that the aid package for Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted and we have already started working on it,” Podzic said.
He added that he got the impression that the allies were ready for a possible veto by Russia or someone else in the Security Council in November.
“We will not be alone,” said Podzic.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was invited to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in 2010, and presented its first Reform Programme in 2019.
Participation in the MAP does not prejudge any decision on future membership. Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to continue pursuing democratic and defence reforms to fulfil its NATO and EU aspirations and to become a well-functioning independent democratic state.
At the beginning of 2021, Bosnia and Herzegovina established the Commission for Cooperation with NATO, which coordinates the implementation of reform activities under the Reform Programme.
The Defence Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the 2022 NATO Summit in Madrid. Allies agreed a set of additional political and practical measures to support the country in strengthening its resilience, including by developing a new defence capacity building package.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s cooperation with NATO is mutually beneficial and includes:
Building capabilities and interoperability
Bosnia and Herzegovina is working to develop fully professional armed forces that are interoperable with NATO forces and are manned by volunteers who meet high professional standards. To this end, the country has been participating in the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) since May 2007. The role of the PARP is to provide a structured basis for identifying forces and capabilities that could be available to the Alliance for multinational training, exercises and peacekeeping and crisis-management operations. It also serves as the principal mechanism used to guide and measure defence and military reform progress.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has declared a number of forces and assets as potentially available for PfP activities, including engineering (explosive ordnance disposal) capabilities and related equipment.
Since 2014, under the Partnership Interoperability Initiative, Bosnia and Herzegovina has participated in the Interoperability Platform, which brings Allies together with selected partners that are active contributors to NATO’s operations.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is an active participant in the tailored Building Integrity (BI) programme, which focuses on good governance and transparent and effective use of defence resources. The country’s NATO-accredited Peace Support Operations Training Centre (PSOTC) offers expert training on building integrity and other topics to NATO and partner countries.
Since 2009, Bosnia and Herzegovina contributed officers to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan as part of the Danish and German contingents, and also contributed to its follow-on Resolute Support Mission (RSM).
