MOSTAR, September 29 (FENA) - After three days of activities at the locations of Ruište, Brkanovo brdo and Planinica in the vicinity of Mostar and Zijemlje in the municipality of East Mostar, a field exercise with the usage of the NICS system "NICS Mostar 2021" was successfully completed with a demonstration exercise held on Wednesday in Ruište.
The BiH Minister of Security Selmo Cikotić described today's exercise with the words "interdependence, togetherness and interoperability."
"Growing and increasingly dangerous security challenges have made all security stakeholders at the national and international level interdependent because no one can achieve their own security on their own. Interoperability is something that connects all these different elements at the international and national level into a single system, and there is a need to help each other in moments when one of the actors of the security system is most endangered or most affected by any type of security challenge," said Cikotić.
The Commander of the NATO Force in BiH, US General Eric Folkestad, pointed out that he was honored to attend today's exercise "NICS Mostar 2021" and to represent NATO and its 30 members.
"I am really glad that I had the opportunity to see this system in action in BiH, and with the help of NATO, it was installed in three other countries in the Balkans that have introduced this system for managing emergency situations. So far, over six million euros have been invested in BiH as part of NATO's Science for Peace and Security program to develop a high-performance multi-layered incident command system that enables the management of complex, emergency situations," Folkestad said.
The US Ambassador to BiH Eric Nelson assessed that every crisis situation requires a multi-level response.
"In such a situation, cooperation and coordination between these different levels and agencies is of key importance for the protection of citizens, but also rescuers. I am very glad that the United States was able to join NATO to provide support in the implementation of this system on the ground.
The system was perfected at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). It was very impressive to see members of various agencies, from the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Security, the BiH Armed Forces, the entity and Brčko District Civil Protection Administrations, the Red Cross and others, working together to use this system on the ground in the most optimal way," pointed out Ambassador Nelson.
He emphasized that this system enables the latest information to be delivered through various devices to the authorities, but also to the necessary agencies that deal with these matters, as well as those who are on the ground and the first to react to crisis situations.
"It was also impressive to see how the NICS system protects the first responders on the ground by showing even the minefields that currently exist in BiH. This exercise is a great example of NATO's support and contribution to the collective security of all people and citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Nelson said.
A total of 22 rescue teams with 185 members of the protection and rescue services, 28 vehicles and four helicopters participated, who tested the use of NICS software and the exchange of information with the help of modern technologies in the event of a natural or other disasters.
(FENA) S. R.