Bosnia and Herzegovina will join NATO and is making progress towards membership despite attempts to block it, the Croat member of the country's tripartite state Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, said on Saturday.

Komsic made the statement at the Manjaca training ground near Banja Luka, where during the day he watched, together with the Bosniak member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, a part of the military exercise “Immediate Response 21”, which has been implemented by members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the US Army since 17 May.

Involved in the exercise, which is part of major military manoeuvers called “Defender Europe 21” that are taking place across Europe, are 500 BiH soldiers and 700 US troops.

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The main purpose of the exercises is to secure the interoperability of US forces and those from European countries to ensure efficient defence against a possible act of aggression.

On Saturday, supported by US Black Hawk helicopters, the troops staged an exercise involving an intervention in enemy-controlled territory.

Christopher Cavoli, the commanding general of United States Army Europe and Africa who arrived to watch the exercise, said that he was impressed by what he had seen.

Exercises like this one prove what we can, and together we can do anything. We look forward to continuing cooperation with the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina as you continue your journey towards NATO, the US general said.

The exercise is formally a part of bilateral defence cooperation with the USA, but is taking place in line with NATO standards, which Komsic sees as its most important element.

“Together with our U.S. partners we are showing that we can adopt and demonstrate the highest military standards put before us by our plan to become a NATO member,” said Komsic.

U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Eric Nelson said that Washington supported BiH's plans to make progress towards membership in Euro-Atlantic associations.

The door to NATO is open, the road is clear and what we have seen today is the strengthening of the partnership between NATO and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nelson said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's possible membership in NATO is opposed by the authorities of the country's Serb entity, but Komsic claims that that has no effect on concrete steps that are being taken and that will eventually lead to NATO membership.

As evidence of this, he offered the claim that BiH submits to NATO annual reform plans, an obligation arising from Membership Action Plan.

Bosnian Serb officials, including BiH Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik, claim that MAP has not been activated while Komsic and Dzaferovic claim that it has.

Komcic said today that the exercise at Manjaca proved that opponents of BiH's membership of NATO had been defeated and that their policies were a thing of the past.

Dodik and BiH Prime Minister Zoran Tegeltija were invited to attend the exercise but did not show up.

The exercise was approved last year by a decision of the BiH Presidency, with Dodik justifying his consent by claiming that the exercise had nothing to do with NATO.

“It is not a NATO exercise, but a simultaneous, predominantly online exercise…  between the armed forces of BiH and the United States, not NATO,” he said earlier while the opposition in the Serb entity accused him of lying and allowing US troops to train at Manjaca.