The Chief of General Staff of ARM, Lieutenant General Metodija Velichkovski is on a two-day official visit of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, in Sarajevo, he visited Chief of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Minister of Defense, and the Commander of the mission EUFOR-Althea.
After he had been welcomed with highest military honor at the army house of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina he met the Chief of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lieutenant General Anto Jelech.
The main topics that were discussed at the official meeting were, improving of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, looking into ways of expending their mutual military cooperation and giving a joint contribution of both armies to regional cooperation projects.
Both Generals, Velichkovski and Jelech, emphasized the importance of security regional activities which are significant for both countries as well as for the whole region, especially in case of natural disasters and migration crisis.
In addition, they agreed on the necessity of finding priority actions for strengthening their military cooperation in order to help each other in their NATO membership aspirations.
Afterwards, General Velichkovski met the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marina Pendesh. They both agreed that, there is excellent defence cooperation between Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and, that the current ways of cooperation will be continued, such as Bosnian cadets to study at the Military Academy of the Republic of Macedonia, as well as joint training and courses.
Then, Macedonian military delegation visited camp Butmir, where they met Macedonian army peacekeepers who are serving at the international peacekeeping mission EUFOR-Althea. During this visit General Velichkovski met the Mission Commander, Major General Anton Waldner.
At this meeting the Generals talked about Macedonian participation and contribution to EUFOR-Althea. The ARM peacekeepers have been part of this mission since 2006 in many contingents with different roles.
Acting Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia in Bosnia and Herzegovina, H.E. Aleksandar Krstevski, and the Non-resident Macedonian Defense Attaché for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colonel Doncho Kuzmanov, were also part of the Macedonian military delegation at today’s meetings.
The Army of the Republic of Macedonia and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina has had excellent bilateral cooperation since 2006 in a few areas, including education, training, military-medical training and etc.
During their visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Macedonian military delegation will visit the monument of the 11 fallen ARM peacekeepers, who got killed on their way back from the mission Althea, as well as, the place near Rotimlje, where the Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski died in a plane crash.
