NATO to discuss Bosnia and Herzegovina

Reuters

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO’s foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the next two days.

The NATO foreign ministers will meet tomorrow to prepare for the upcoming Summit in July, and the meeting will begin with a discussion on Russia, Stoltenberg said.

“We will discuss the progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Georgia. Ukraine has also expressed its aspirations for membership. And I expect ministers will want to address that too,” he added.

He said the ministerial meeting will close with a discussion on the Western Balkans and NATO’s Open Doors policy. NATO remains committed to the vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace.

“The Western Balkans is at the heart of Europe. NATO has a history on the region. We helped end two wars in the 1990’s and NATO still has a presence in the Western Balkans. We have a presence in Kosovo, headquarters in Skopje and Sarajevo. We help partners with reforms and with capacity building,” Stoltenberg stressed.

Speaking about NATO's presence in the region, he mentioned Montenegro as the most recent member of the alliance.

“NATO is also partners with Serbia and we have two aspirant countries, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia and Bosnia. NATO continues to work with its regional partners to prevent escalation of tensions in the region.

The meeting will also be attended by the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini. Together they will discuss how NATO and the EU could cooperate and build stability.