prijava
SARAJEVO, January 22 (FENA) - Defense Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sifet Podžić and his associates received today the United States Ambassador to BiH Eric G. Nelson, with whom they discussed bilateral defense cooperation, with the minister emphasizing the support the US provides to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the BiH Armed Forces through various programs and forms of cooperation.
Podžić singled out the US assistance through the Army-to-Army Program, state cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina Maryland and cooperation with the Maryland National Guard, support through the IMET program and the training of officers of the AF BiH, and the US Government support for the modernization of the AF BiH using funding from the FMF program.
He particularly emphasized the importance of signing a procurement contract for four helicopters with a total value of more than USD 38,500,000, with the bulk of the funding provided by the United States Government from the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Foreign Military Funds (FMF) programs.
Also, Minister Podžić emphasized the extremely good cooperation with the US Embassy in BiH and the Embassy's Defense Cooperation Department.
The two sides discussed the NATO path of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Podžić stressing the commitment that the BiH Ministry of Defense would establish mechanisms for the implementation of the Reform Program document and would contribute to it with the best possible implementation.
Ambassador Nelson expressed strong support of the Government and the US Embassy to the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and further activities of Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path towards NATO membership and its partnership with the Alliance.
“There are many issues in which we can support you in the implementation of defense reform and we will continue to work on it,” Ambassador Nelson emphasized at the end of the meeting.
(FENA) S. R.
