Bosnian Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic met with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where he stressed that he sees Germany as one of the main advocators of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Europe.

Konakovic also emphasised a long successful institutional cooperation between the two countries.

German minister welcomed on this occasion the candidate status for the EU membership that Bosnia and Herzegovina recently obtained, pointing out the necessity of implementing the reform processes in context of implementation of 14 key priorities set before the country by the European Commission in its Opinion on the membership application.

The countries of the Western Balkans belong to the #EU. @ABaerbock met with her new counterpart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, @DinoKonakovic: Granting candidate status for #BiH was an important signal. Going forward especially rule of law reforms are key. #MSC2023

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 17, 2023

The officials also discussed development cooperation between Germany and Bosnia, expressing the readiness of both sides to improve it, given the fact that Germany is one of the most important Bosnia's foreign trade partners.

They agreed that the sectors of defence and security are among the priorities where the cooperation needs to resume.

The meeting announced a stronger presence of Germany both in Bosnia and the Balkans, and reiterated unequivocal support to Bosnia's EU path.