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SARAJEVO, December 6 (FENA) - A delegation of the Ministry of Defense of the Slovak Republic, led by Defense Minister Peter Gajdoš, is on an official visit to the BiH Ministry of Defense.
The delegation met with Defense Minister Marina Pendeš and senior representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Joint Staff of the BiH Armed Forces this morning.
The two delegations discussed the issued related to the activation of the Membership Action Plan with NATO for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the possibilities for enhancing bilateral cooperation between BiH and Slovakia.
Slovak Defense Minister Peter Gajdoš said that Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina share common goals, oriented towards prosperity, expressing expectation that following the invitation from Brussels the necessary steps would follow, that BiH will adopt and present its first Annual National Program, and that the next steps would follow much faster.
He underlined readiness for further development of bilateral cooperation, with the focus on training and education of members of the armed forces of the two countries, as well as for the support of the Althea operation, including the participation of the Slovak military contingent within EUFOR.
Minister Gajdoš extended congratulations to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the occasion of the activation of the MAP and the Day of the BiH Armed Forces and commended the overall progress that the country has achieved in the reform of the defense sector.
After the meeting of the two delegations, Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina Marina Pendeš emphasized that the visit of the delegation of the Slovak Ministry of Defense came shortly after the meeting of the foreign ministers of the NATO member countries in Brussels, where BiH received encouraging news.
She said that peace, security and stability of Europe, including the region of Southeast Europe, were topics over which the interlocutors have achieved full agreement.
Pendeš expressed gratitude to the Slovak Republic whose embassy in BiH was the contact point for NATO, as well as the contribution of the Ministry of Defense of that country on the path of activating the MAP for BiH and on the path towards membership in the European Union.
Pendeš also assessed that there is wide area for further development of bilateral cooperation, including participation in peacekeeping missions, education and exchange of experiences, including a planned meeting between the highest officials of the armed forces of the two countries in order to jointly define specific activities.
Responding to journalists’ questions on the activation of the MAP for BiH, Minister Gajdoš said that his country supports BiH's accession to the MAP, and that NATO is ready to accept the first annual national program after BiH submits it.
Regarding the same question, Minister Pendeš recalled that BiH has already submitted to its partners the draft version of the first annual national program, and that, based on this and everything that BiH has done in the past few years, including, among other things, the Presidency's decisions, activities of MoD BiH and the adoption of the Defense Review as a strategic document, came the invitation to Bosnia and Herzegovina to submit its first annual national program.
“I expect that we shall soon adopt this important document at the level of state institutions, and we will submit it to NATO,” Pendeš said, stressing that after that, the reform processes would follow in the security policy, the rule of law and other relevant areas.
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(FENA) S. R.
