The agreement on transferring military weapons, ammunition, explosives and certain other movable defence property to BiH’s defence institutions was finally resolved today. State and Entity Government representatives signed in Doboj the “Agreement on final disposal of all rights and liabilities over movable defence property that will continue to serve defence purposes”.
The agreement also includes procedures for the disposal of surplus weapons, ammunition and explosives and distribution of the proceeds from any sales to the Entities and the State.
Welcoming today’s agreement OHR’s Principal Deputy High Representative Raffi Gregorian said: “Today’s agreement, though overdue, is another milestone in defence reform implementation. It is especially important because it will allow BiH to finally start getting rid of tons of unstable and dangerous material the maintenance of which has needlessly strained the limited resources of the Armed Forces”. “Moreover, as we saw recently in the tragic pictures from Albania, failure to deal with such material in a timely fashion can cost lives”.
NATO leaders meet in Bucharest next week. “This agreement says that BiH is serious about defence reform and its NATO aspirations,” said the PDHR. “I hope the Alliance’s leaders will take this into consideration, as well as BiH’s demonstrated willingness to contribute to international peace and security missions.”