Minister of Defence Branko Vukelic visits BiH MOD

Minister Vukelic said that yesterday’s conditional approval of the Membership Action Plan for NATO (MAP) for Bosnia and Herzegovina, was an important step on the road of BiH to full NATO membership, stressing that it was important not only for BiH but also for Croatia and for all countries in the region, particularly from the aspect of security. 
Minister Cikotic thanked for the efforts made by Croatia in providing support to BiH on its path towards Euro-Atlantic integration and thereby emphasized that the Croatian and BiH ministries of defence signed in 2006 the Memorandum of Understanding, and considering the importance and scope of cooperation in the defence plan, he said that now the time has come for Agreement on Defence Cooperation.
It was agreed that the Croatian MOD would provide the Ministry of Defence of BiH with the experience from joining NATO but also the experience from the process of transition and reorganization. Talks were also on the knowledge transfer from the CAF participation in peacekeeping missions, which is important for BiH, since BiH MOD plans to send its troops to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
Also, there was discussion about cooperation in military training whereby it was agreed that this cooperation in the coming period would intensify. At this point a total of 18 NCOs and officers from countries in the region, 10 of them from Bosnia and Herzegovina, have been on military education in Croatia.
Armed Forces of BiH currently have 10 000 professional soldiers, 1000 civilian and 5000 reservists, where Bosnians have been represented with approximately 46 percent, Serbs 33 percent and Croats with slightly less than 20 percent.