Marking the 15th anniversary of the creation of Bosnia’s Armed Forces, Defence Minister Sifet Podzic said that despite the pandemic and budget cuts, troops have helped set up tents for coronavirus quarantine settlements at the border, fought forest fires, disinfected several municipalities and took part in international peace missions.

Soldiers have also cleared mines that were planted during the 1992-95 war and have taken part in NATO programs, he said.

“We have been participating in peace missions in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Congo, Mali, Central African Republic for the past 20 years,” Podzic said.

“A total of 1,663 members of the Armed Forces have served peace missions and they are our best representatives and we are proud of them,” he said.

Lieutenant General Senad Masovic said that 2020 “was a complex year, but despite the difficulties, we managed to realize a significant part of our planned activities and we achieved notable results.”

Masovic said that the most important thing for Bosnia’s Armed Forces at this time is training.

“Quality individual and collective training is a key prerequisite for strengthening all capacities and combat readiness of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Throughout 2020, we had training conducted within training centres, as well as at the locations of Bosnia’s Armed Forces units,” he said.

“More than 1,100 members of the Armed Forces and evaluators from NATO and partner countries participated in NATO’s NEL-1 training,” he said, adding that the Bosnian army unit met the prescribed NATO norms and standards and showed full capability for future NATO-led operations.

We are especially proud of the enthusiasm of the members of the BiH Armed Forces at the exercise, which is the largest exercise in the history of NATO,” said Lt. Gen Masovic.

“We also conducted an exercise with members of the United States Army, which enabled the development of interoperability and the introduction of new capabilities,” he added.