prijava
SARAJEVO, July 19 (FENA) - The Armed Forces of BiH today received 21 HMMWVs (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle) from the United States Government in the amount higher than 2,600,000 USD.
On that occasion, a handover ceremony was held at the BiH AF barracks in Rajlovac, where BiH Defense Minister Sifet Podžić said that the United States is helping with a key task through this donation - the implementation of the defense review, i.e. the implementation of reform programs submitted to NATO.
“This is a great opportunity to move to the second phase of the realization of the defense review, and one of the tasks in the second phase is certainly the modernization of the Armed Forces,” said Podžić.
US Ambassador to BiH Eric Nelson stressed that the total number of vehicles donated by the United States to the BiH Armed Forces is now 79, a project worth more than 14 million USD.
“Building the capacity of the Armed Forces to act in peace is something in which the United States invests funds, in order to improve those capacities,” Nelson pointed out, and called on the BiH authorities to continue implementing reforms in order for BiH to meet the standards necessary for the Euro-Atlantic path.
He says that the capital investments that the USA is making when it comes to the AF BiH should become capital investments of BiH taxpayers, and he calls on the Council of Ministers to keep that in mind and support what is necessary for that to happen.
Chief of the Joint Staff of the AF BiH, Colonel General Senad Mašović, also addressed those present at the ceremony, saying that bilateral military cooperation between the Armed Forces of BiH and the US Army, but also between the states, is growing continuously.
The mentioned donation of 21 vehicles was realized through the Foreign Military Sales program of assistance of the US Government to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(FENA) A. B.
