SARAJEVO, MARCH 26 (ONASA) – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH and Chairman of the Commission for Cooperation with NATO, M.Sc. On March 25, 2024, Josip Brkić met with the Committee of Deputy Permanent Representatives of NATO (NATO DPRC) in Brussels.
At the beginning of the meeting, Deputy Minister Brkić expressed his gratitude to the members of the Committee of Deputy Permanent Representatives of NATO for their commitment and the opportunity to discuss and exchange information on the implementation of activities related to the 2023 Reform Program. He expressed his satisfaction with the fact that NATO maintains its focus on dialogue with candidate countries , despite the very complex security moment in which we live, and that he remains strongly committed to security and stability in the Western Balkans.
He reported, as the chairman of the Commission for Cooperation with NATO BiH, that based on the contributions collected from the relevant institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a draft of the 2023 Reform Program was prepared. is Information on the implementation of the activities of BiH institutions in 2023, which was delivered to the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
He emphasized that the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with their competences, continued to implement activities, i.e. reform processes, which were determined by the Reform Program.
He assessed that the Information on the level of implementation in the political, economic, defense-security, resource and legal sense confirms that there is a strong foundation for continued cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and NATO.
He reminded that integration into the EU and improving relations with NATO, along with strengthening regional cooperation, are the priorities of BiH’s foreign policy.
In connection with the defense policy of BiH, Deputy Brkić informed that the implementation of projects related to the modernization of weapons, equipment and infrastructure through the NATO DCBI and EU EPF programs is underway, in accordance with the Defense Review and the Development and Modernization Plan of the Armed Forces of BiH.
He added that it is very important that Bosnia and Herzegovina is mentioned in the NATO Annual Report for 2023, which the Secretary General published on March 14 this year.
He emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina is still ready to engage in substantive cooperation with NATO in a wide range of security issues and announced that in October of this year, the NATO Partnership 360 Symposium, which has a global character, will be held in our country, and at which allies, partner countries and international organizations can discuss common security and other challenges facing our societies.
When it comes to our country’s European path, Deputy Minister Brkić welcomed last week’s Decision of the European Council on opening accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the fact that the European Commission recognized the reform progress achieved by Bosnia and Herzegovina on its way to the EU.
He expressed the expectation that the European Commission will work on the development of the negotiation framework – a prerequisite for determining the date of the first Intergovernmental Conference.
He concluded at the end that we have a challenging reform process ahead of us, in accordance with the Copenhagen criteria, but that we remain determined to make Bosnia and Herzegovina a full member of the European family.