Bosnia has done everything necessary to be granted EU candidate status, the country’s prime minister told US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer in a Wednesday meeting, adding that he expects the European Commission to greenlight Bosnia’s request by the end of the year.

If the EU candidate status for the country is approved, “relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU would enter a new phase,” which would “further consolidate” the country on its European path, a government press release said.

Prime Minister – in Bosnia officially called the Chairman of the Council of Ministers – Denis Zvizdic said that Euroatlantic integrations remain Bosnia’s foreign policy priority and that the country is working on “comprehensive reforms in order to create a favourable business environment, attract investments, create new jobs and accelerate economic development.”

Palmer reiterated that the US remains Bosnia’s “committed friend” in the “reform processes and Euro-Atlantic integration process.”

The US Ambassador to the country, Eric Nelson, also attended the meeting.