Bosnia and Herzegovina’s relationship with NATO is very important, and all necessary steps must be taken in the coming weeks to develop this relationship further, particularly in the run-up to a key NATO conference in April, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Valentin Inzko, said today.
The HR/EUSR was speaking during a meeting in Sarajevo with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Secretary-General Rasmussen is in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the head of a delegation from the North Atlantic Council (NAC), the executive body made up of Permanent Representatives of all NATO member countries.
The NAC is visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to be held in Estonia on 22 and 23 April, at which the country’s application to join NATO’s Membership Action Plan (MAP) will be discussed.
“I am keen to see Bosnia and Herzegovina accepted for the MAP, but for this to happen, issues, such as defence property, must be resolved,” the HR/EUSR said, adding that Bosnia and Herzegovina must also continue to “show real and sustained progress in implementing NATO’s Individual Partnership Action Plan and the Partnership Planning and Review Process.”
The HR/EUSR expressed his thanks to Secretary-General Rasmussen for the personal support he has given to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“NATO’s engagement in this country, through its physical presence and through its diplomatic and technical assistance represents an invaluable contribution to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s normalisation. In addition, NATO’s support for defence reform is indispensable. It is therefore a matter of the utmost importance that the relationship between NATO and Bosnia and Herzegovina deepens and strengthens,” the HR/EUSR said.