A handover ceremony of command duties of NATO Headquarters Sarajevo between Brigadier General Pamela McGah and Brigadier General Matthew A. Valas was held at Sarajevo’s Army Hall on Friday.

In her speech, McGaha referred to the progress jointly achieved by NATO, BiH and the international community in the past two and a half years.

“Together, we deepened the ties between Bosnia and Herzegovina and NATO countries with an enhanced support package for building the capabilities and resilience of key BiH institutions. We have taken concrete steps to accelerate the destruction of surplus ammunition and explosive ordinance and helped emphasize the imperative to increase the number of women working in all areas of defence, security and diplomacy, which makes all of Bosnia and Herzegovina safer,” McGaha pointed out.

She adds that BiH is a place where hospitality is a way of life, where beauty lies in the diversity of its landscapes and people, and that she is honoured to have been at the head of the NATO mission in BiH.

The newly appointed Brigadier General of the NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo, Matthew A. Valas, pointed out that he is pleased to return to BiH after more than 23 years, after the end of the Stabilization Forces 6 mission.#related-news_0

“I look forward to using that experience to help the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina maintain the high standards of training that they demonstrate time and time again.”

Renewed regional security challenges remind us of the need to continuously strengthen the partnership, capacity and capabilities between the NATO mission and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he concluded.