Major General Reinhard Trischak took over the command of the European military deployment in Bosnia which oversees the military implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia, on Wednesday.

Major General Dorfer handed over to Trischak after serving for 15 months. In that time the EUFOR mission continued to support the Bosnian authorities helping them maintain a safe and secure environment, delivered support to demining efforts and raised awareness among risk groups, supported the disposal and management of surplus arms and ammunition left over from the 1992-1995 war and carried out combined and collective training with Bosnia's Armed Forces.

Major General Dorfer said during the ceremony that “EUFOR has come a very long way and together we are now in a much better place; we are stronger, much better prepared and now with even greater interest and support from our partner nations.”

Major General Trischak arrives from his previous role as the Director of the Military Policy Division based at the Ministry of Defence, Austria. He has been engaged in the West Balkans region before and has also previously worked with the UN, EU and OSCE. His published work and lectures focus on the topics of military and security policy.

Major General Trischak noted he is looking forward “to working closely with my team here, as well as the key leaders and people of BiH in order to help achieve the goals of my mission and the goals of the population of BiH.”

The handover ceremony and a small military parade at Camp Butmir in Sarajevo was attended by International community's High Representative in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Agreement, Inzko Valentin, the Head of the OSCE Mission, Bruce Berton, Head of the EUCE, Lieutenant General Luciano Portolano, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Johann Luif , Bosnia's Chief of Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Senad Masovic, Defence Advisor Dragan Vukovic, the Archbishop of Vrhbosna, Vinko Puljic as well as many of the Ambassadors and Defence Attaches to Bosnia.