"Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) should be granted candidate status at this year's NATO spring session".
This was stated in Sarajevo by BiH Defense Minister Zukan Heles. He stressed that this is another step towards membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, the Sarajevo Times reported.
"This is a recognition of BiH for everything it has done on the way to NATO. I am fully aware that it has other political connotations and expectations, but I am a lawyer, and as soon as the Defense Law in Article 84 says that our goal is NATO membership, I work according to the law," Heles said.
On the occasion of the opening of the NATO Strategic Military Partners Conference (MSPC 24) in Sarajevo, Heles said that this is the second major meeting in BiH after the North Atlantic Council meeting in February this year.
"This is a sign that NATO has close cooperation with BiH. Our partnership has been going on for more than 20 years. A few days ago, at the House of the Armed Forces of BiH, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of this military-political organization. During these 20 years, the Armed Forces of BiH have made extraordinary progress. Every day we harmonized the standards of the Armed Forces with the NATO standards and as a result of this cooperation we had several successful international missions in which our forces, side by side with NATO representatives, performed the most complex military tasks," the Minister said.
The Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of BiH, Major General Goiko Knezevic, said that the partnership between BiH and NATO has been ongoing since 2006 and has been implemented through cooperation in various areas, especially in the field of education, training, equipment, assessment, evaluation of the level of interoperability achieved.
The NATO Strategic Military Partners Conference (MSPC 24), hosted by the Ministry of Defense and the BiH Armed Forces, opened on 8 April in Sarajevo.
The conference, which will be held from 8 to 12 April at the NATO organization, will provide an opportunity to exchange views on important strategic issues of NATO partners, as well as to improve military cooperation. /BGNES
