NATO AND US TO FURTHER ASSIST BOSNIA ON ITS PATH TOWARDS FULL NATO MEMBERSHIP

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 12,2008) - Members of the Bosnian State Presidency Željko Komšić and Nebojša Radmanović,as well as Adnan Kapo, Adviser to the Cabinet of the Bosnian President Haris Silajdžić met yesterday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo with Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, Commander of Allied Joint Force Command in Naples. Admiral was accompanied by General-major Richard Wightman, Commander of the NATO HQ in Bosnia,the Bosnian State Presidency said.

At the meeting, parties discussed Bosnia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, to which all political factors expressed their commitment and consent.

Radmanović emphasized, that in spite of a temporary deadlock, over the last period Bosnia has achieved a lot: signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union, intensified dialogue for full membership in the NATO, signed Agreement on addressing the issue of military movable and immovable property, thus creating the conditions for solving the issue of superfluous armament i.e. immovable property.

Members of the Bosnian State Presidency also underlined that the question of 1000 military facilities in the country and the change of their purpose is connected to the issue of the entire state property and added that those objects could be used for development of economic and other services.

The two parties also exchanged ideas about the function and future of the Office of the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia (OHR); NATO Headquarters in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in other words, the role of the International Community in Bosnia.

Admiral Fitzgerald expressed his thanks to the Members of the Bosnian State Presidency for their engagement in transparent change of command at the Bosnian Armed Forces, emphasizing the readiness of NATO and the US to further assist Bosnia on its path toward full NATO membership.
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