NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana visited the Barracks in Rajlovac on Friday, and on that occasion he met with BiH Defense Minister Zukan Helez.
After the tour of the barracks, Helez said that a briefing was held where NATO partners were introduced to what the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina have at their disposal.
“I want to thank the leaders of the NATO alliance for giving full attention to the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina are increasingly following the standards of the NATO alliance, especially the battalion group of light infantry that passed the NATO evaluation, which we are proud of. This is just the beginning of this year’s household to NATO representatives, and we will have two more large gatherings in April and October, after the NATO summit, the largest form of meeting,” Helez said.
He added that Euro-Atlantic integration has no reservations and that it is “our only foreign policy goal.”
“The question is often asked when BiH will become a member of the NATO alliance. I want to say that the NATO alliance is here in BiH. We are partners of the NATO alliance and we want full membership in the NATO alliance,” Helez said.
Geoana said that this visit of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) to Sarajevo shows the importance of the long-term partnership between NATO and BiH after the visit of the Secretary General of the Alliance last year.
“Yesterday and today was an opportunity to discuss how to improve our cooperation even further. We are working on many important things in many areas since the defense ministers of the NATO countries approved a package for building defense capacities for your country last year. This package consists of many projects. When we talk about emergency management, we are working on expanding the software platform. When it comes to the fight against terrorism, we are working on creating a training curriculum in cooperation with the Ministry of Security. We are working on improving the infrastructure of facilities where small and light weapons are stored. We are also working on improvement and improvement of the infrastructure in the training and doctrine command of the Armed Forces”, Geoana added.
He emphasized that the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina are one of the most important multi-ethnic institutions and have gone through an exceptional transformation since their establishment in 2005.
“As our Secretary General said, your security is important for the Western Balkans and for Europe, and I think that this NAC visit, the first since 2010, is very important for both political dialogue and practical cooperation. We had the opportunity to meet the members here. and members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina who served with us in very difficult places like Iraq and Afghanistan. It is up to you, the leaders and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to decide about your future, and in NATO you will always have a friend who will help you achieve your Euro-Atlantic goals goals,” Geoana concluded, AA reports.
