Defence minister: NATO ministers recognised our efforts

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The content of Bosnia and Herzegovina's national annual programme for the NATO will not be imposed and it will depend solely on the country, Defence Minister Marina Pendes said on Wednesday after the NATO ministers invited Bosnia to submit this document.

“The programme and the activities that are related to the reforms Bosnia and Herzegovina has to conduct will certainly contribute to our accelerated path to the European Union,” the minister said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday that foreign ministers decided to support reforms in Bosnia and accept its first annual national programme, which practically means activation of the NATO Membership Action Plan for the country.

The minister said this was a recognition for everything the state institutions have been doing for the past years.

“I am grateful to everyone in the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina who have been intensively working for the past four years on implementation of all decisions, conclusions of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributing in that way to the decision of (the NATO) foreign ministers to recognise our efforts,” added Pendes.

According to her, all institutions will be equally involved in the drafting and final version of the first national programme.