Today witnessed the closing ceremony of Exercise QUICK RESPONSE 2017. This ceremony concluded months of planning and cooperation between EUFOR, the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Defence for BiH.
The Exercise Director, Brigadier General József Szpisják congratulated all of the participating soldiers for their hard work and commitment in making the exercise a huge success and thanked them for their professionalism and enthusiasm throughout.
This international exercise involved EUFOR’s Multinational Battalion, the Intermediate Reserve Forces from the United Kingdom and the Kosovo Force Tactical Reserve Battalion as well as Law Enforcement Agencies and the Armed Forces of BiH; all working together, for the first time exercising realistic scenarios in order to test their respective contingency plans.
Commander EUFOR, Major General Anton Waldner said: “Quick Response 17 exercise has provided the opportunity to increase our interoperability with both the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as testing our tactics, techniques and procedures in dealing with a number of different types of threats.” When addressing the soldiers at the closing ceremony he added: “At the strategic level, the European Union remains committed to Bosnia and Herzegovina and through EUFOR’s presence will continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s efforts to maintain a safe and secure environment on the country’s path to EU accession. Therefore your presence in this high profile exercise helps reinforce this strategic objective.”
‘Quick Response 2017’ was a EUFOR-led peace support operation exercise which successfully demonstrated EUFOR’s capability to call in reserve forces in order to maintain a safe and secure environment in support of local authorities, law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces of BiH.
EUFOR is able to draw on mobile and versatile Over the Horizon Reserve forces, if required, to augment in-theatre forces and deal with any military contingency that arises as well as supporting the Ministry of Security and Ministry of Defence.
