Bosnia and Herzegovina's partnership with NATO, within the MAP, should not have an alternative

(Patria) - Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina Marina Pendeš spoke in Sarajevo as an introductory speaker at an international conference organized by the Center for Security Studies of BiH (CSS) on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In her opening address, before participants from NATO countries in the region, Minister Pendeš emphasized her conviction that NATO and Bosnia and Herzegovina are entering a new phase of their relations, after the member states of the Alliance announced in December their readiness to accept the first Annual National Program (ANP) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would activate the Membership Action Plan (MAP) of BiH to NATO.

It was particularly emphasized that under NATO's security umbrella, Europe has managed to build prosperous societies, based on the principles of democracy, and to provide its citizens with security and economic progress.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina's partnership with NATO, within the MAP, should not have an alternative, not only because it is a legal obligation that I have as the Minister of Defense, as well as other competent institutions, but also because the integration process itself will bring the values of the modern and developed world, which the peoples in this country and in these areas certainly deserve,” said Minister Pendeš.

Introductory speakers at the conference, organized by CSS in cooperation with the Commission for NATO Integration Process of BiH, and with the support of the NATO Headquarters Public Diplomacy Division, also included the Commander of NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo, Brigadier General Marti Bissell, the Ambassador of Hungary to BiH Krisztan Posa, the delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Asim Sarajlić, and the Director of CSS Denis Hadžović.

In addition to other participants from across the region, prominent speakers also included Robert Pszczel, a senior official for Russia and the Western Balkans at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, and Josip Brkić, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH and Chairman of the Commission for NATO Integration Process of BiH.