Delegations of the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia agreed on Wednesday they would expand the two armies' cooperation in 2019 and 2020, especially in the areas of disaster relief and officer training, in a joint meeting in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo.

Deputy Chief of Staff of Bosnian Armed Forces, Major-General Ivica Jerkic, and his Croatian counterpart, Major-General Drago Matanovic, led the two delegations, which agreed that the cooperation between the two national militaries was already good.

After the meeting, Jerkic said that the delegations discussed a number of topics including the armed forces’ organised assistance to civilians in cases of natural disasters.

“We also discussed the continuation of cooperation through the US-Adriatic Charter, as well as participation in the Resolute Support peacekeeping mission (in Afghanistan). A very important subject we also talked about was the continuation of (Bosnia’s) use of the Croatian Military Academy for training and education, especially for pilots, because we think this a very important and delicate topic,” Jerkic said following the meeting.

The US-Adriatic Charter is a regional initiative launched in 2003 by Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, and the United States. In 2008 it was joined by Bosnia and Montenegro. The initiative’s stated main mission is to enable all aspirant countries to join NATO as soon as possible. Albania and Croatia had joined in 2009, followed by Montenegro in 2017.

The defence ministers of all participating countries most recently met in Zagreb in July this year, with the US represented by Secretary of Defence James Mattis.

Bosnia and Croatia also both take part in the US-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, with around 60 and 100 soldiers respectively.

Croatia’s Major-General Matanovic also emphasised the two countries’ collaboration in education and training, pointing out the need for the two armies to exchange experience in handling disaster relief.

“Croatia wants to help Bosnia and Herzegovina on its road towards NATO membership… We are here ready to share our experience,” Matanovic added.

Bosnia is a member of the Partnership for Peace Programme, which is considered a stage in becoming full member of NATO, and is currently making efforts to have NATO activate its Membership Action Plan for Bosnia. However, the main obstacle to that remains a lack of political agreement within Bosnia, as its Serb semi-autonomous entity opposes full NATO membership.

The meeting resulted in plans to further expand the cooperation of the two armies in 2019 and in 2020, said Matanovic.

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