News in English     | 02.01.2020. 19:14 |

BiH Ministry of Defense continued to carry out planned activities in 2019

FENA Muamer Selimbegovic

SARAJEVO, January 2 (FENA) - The Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH), despite limited allocations to the defense sector, welcome the New Year 2020 with good results that are recognized and appreciated, both domestically and abroad. Summarizing the achievements in the defense sector achieved in 2019, as the BiH Ministry of Defense told for FENA that the level of realization of the planned activities was, first of all, the result of a continuous process of training and qualification of the AFBiH members.

In this context, they recall that in 2019, the Light Infantry Battalion Exercise was conducted for the first time and Silver Arrow military exercise was implemented in cooperation with the National Guard of Maryland and US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).

At the same time, a live-fire exercise of the AFBiH artillery battalions was carried out, "The most capable AFBiH member in 2019" competition was held at the level of the BiH Armed Forces, implementation of the project of small arms and light weapons registration was initiated, and a regional conference "Media and Defense" was held, as well as signing of a contract for the purchase of four new helicopters for the needs of the AFBiH.

Furthermore, AFBIH continued successful cooperation with NATO, EUFOR through joint exercises, such as the "Quick Response Exercise 19" conducted with EUFOR and its reserve forces at several locations in BiH, and several members of the AF participated in several exercises abroad.

In 2019, Armed Forces made a significant contribution participating in peacekeeping missions, civilian-military cooperation, demining, and reducing of surplus ammunition and mine-explosive devices.

Currently, 76 members of the AF are deployed in three types of missions - the UN missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (three military observers) and the Republic of Mali (two staff officers), while the NATO-led mission "Resolute Support" in Afghanistan engages 68 members and three members within the EU mission in the Central African Republic.

In addition, BiH Armed Forces participate with about 30 percent of the total demining process in BiH, without demining accidents, and the AFBiH Mine Center has long justified its existence by training a significant number of experts in the field, not only from the AFBiH, but also from other BiH organizations and countries in the region.

BiH Ministry of Defense states that, at the same time, huge progress has been made in increasing the level of security at weapons storage sites and ammunition and mine-explosive devices, and that US Embassy in BiH, EUFOR, NATO Headquarters Sarajevo, OSCE, UNDP, Norwegian People's Aid have strongly supported through various projects.

With regard to cooperation with NATO and building compatible defense capacities, MoD and AFBiH continued to carry out planned activities in 2019 towards Euro-Atlantic integration, as evidenced, among other things, through Partnership for Peace Planning and Review Process (PARP) as one of the important aspects of cooperation with NATO.

In addition to several troops and platoons, the SEL 1 evaluation of the AFBiH 1st Light Infantry Battalion group was successfully carried out in September, and three more levels of evaluation are forthcoming to become part of the "NATO Force Pool", or trained under NATO standards for participation in peacekeeping missions.

At the same time, a new cooperation program with NATO (DEEP Defense Education Enhancement Program) has begun, providing partner countries with the assistance of NATO teams an audit of career systems and other types of training and improving career plans and courses for commissioned and non-commissioned officers, as well as foreign language courses that are compatible with the military education system in NATO countries.

Planned activities were also carried out within the defense part of the BiH Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), with the focus on the AFBiH and the development of interoperability capacities, as well as within the List of Cooperation Activities with NATO.

In parallel with these activities, a significant level of bilateral defense cooperation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was achieved, which is realized annually with about 30 countries / partners, and the most extensive bilateral cooperation was realized with the United States of America.

The annual plans mainly cover activities such as education, training, attendance at seminars, exchange of experiences, bilateral visits, financial support for major projects and initiatives, donations etc.

BiH Ministry of Defense points out that the high level of cooperation has been maintained within regional frameworks, supported by participation in several regional initiatives such as the US-Adriatic Charter (A-5), Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM) Forum, Balkan States Chiefs of Staff Forum (B-9), the Southeast European Co-operation Process (SEECP), the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), and the Balkan Medical Task Force (BMTF).

Ministry of Defense of BiH considers personnel to be the best BiH resource, therefore they continue to recruit military personnel in order to maintain the operational readiness of the AFBiH to perform legally defined tasks.

In this regard, 56 cadets were sent to ten countries (Austria, Greece, Croatia, North Macedonia, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, FR Germany) to study abroad in 2019.

In terms of gender equality, the defense institutions are nurturing a positive trend, as evidenced by the indicators according to which a total of 46.6 percent of women are employed in the BiH MoD and 7.28 percent in the AFBiH, and women and men have an equal opportunity in all fields of work in the MoD and AFBiH.

In response to planning activities, the BiH MoD announces that priorities in the coming year will be realization of legally defined tasks, and completion of implementation of defense reform solutions such as resolving surplus ammunition and mine-explosive devices, addressing non-prospective immovable military assets and improving conditions of working in military sites, as well as preventing all forms of corruption and illegal activities, the BiH Ministry of Defense told for FENA.

(FENA) A. B.

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