BiH priority on its path to membership in NATO is the registration of promising, immovable military property on the entire territory of BiH, and it is a difficult task that has “crossed on the political field”.
This is one of the joint conclusion of participants on the meeting between representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly and the members of the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security and the Subcommittee on Democratic Governance of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO (NATO PA), which was held on Monday in Sarajevo.
The chairman of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly in NATO PA, Nikola Lovrinović, stressed at the meeting that just a few other countries in the postwar period achieve progress on the reconstruction of infrastructure and reform of defence and security, as it is the case with BiH. He noted that the process of registration of military property is definitely launched and expressed hope that BiH, through activation of MAP, will become the full member of NATO, which is the state desired goal.
He pointed out that NATO, by activating the MAP to BiH, sent a strong message about the current efforts of the country and emphasised that this process can no longer stand.
The chairman of the Board of the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security and the Subcommittee on Democratic Governance NATO PA, Lord Thomas Michael Jopling, said that the Western Balkan countries, including BiH, have achieved great progress on the path towards the EU and NATO. He stressed BiH’s large contribution to ensuring security in the region and has also made a great contribution to the NATO-led peacekeeping missions.
“However, the stability of your region is still fragile, and the inter-ethnic gap is permanent”, said Lord Jopling, and added that the NATO PA is convinced that the European and Euro-Atlantic integration remains the most powerful instrument that will bring permanent prosperity and security in this region.
He called politicians in the region, and especially BiH politicians, to urgently demonstrate compromise and determination to implement the necessary reforms and stop corruption. Jopling expressed the hope that the political leaders in Banja Luka and Sarajevo will find a way to work together for the benefit of all citizens of BiH and future generations.
BiH Defence Minister Marina Pendeš informed participants that the NATO Summit in Warsaw, when it is expected that the MAP to BiH to be activated, moved to July.
She said that the BiH Ministry of Defence (MoD) has made the maximum in registration of military property and that 23 locations already are in register. Also, she added, MoD sent 14 requests for registration locations in the RS, but there are several problems.
RS representatives, which were supposed to be on the meeting, didn’t come. SNSD delegate in PA BiH, Dusanka Majkic, which was invited to participate, said that she was not able to come because of “personal reasons” but was also surprised that other representatives of Serb nation also didn’t come.
Mladen Dragojlovic
Source: Balkaneu.com