Joint press point

(Interpretation throughout)

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman): Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary General and the President will each make opening statements and then we have a little time for questions. Secretary General.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN (Secretary General of NATO): I have received today, on behalf of the Alliance, the application of Bosnia and Herzegovina to join NATO's Membership Action Plan. I welcome that application because I believe that the best route to lasting stability in the Balkans is Euro-Atlantic integration, and that includes Bosnia and Herzegovina in NATO.

Of course, a Membership Action Plan depends on meeting NATO's standards, including when it comes to democracy and military effectiveness. To reach the goal that a Membership Action Plan sets out Bosnia and Herzegovina will need to continue and even step up its reforms, including when it comes to the democratic institutions of the country. Wherever possible, NATO will do our part to help.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian contribution to our military operation in Afghanistan. It's a good sign that your country wishes to become a security provider, and it's an important signal, including in the context of this application.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I have the great vision to see all countries in the Western Balkans integrated in the Euro-Atlantic structures and European Union and in NATO, and on that background I warmly welcome the application we have received today.

Mr. President.

ŽELJKO KOMŠIĆ (Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina): Well, I'm here today and I can answer some of your questions. There is a delegation here from Bosnia and Herzegovina and in this delegation we have got our ambassador to NATO, our Foreign Minister, our Minister of Defence, our head of the Joint Staff of our Armed Forces and obviously I am here too.

And today Bosnia and Herzegovina has made the application for the Membership Action Plan in view of joining NATO.

That was an opportunity to discuss other things as well. For example, the reforms and other tasks that we will have to do in the future.

In order to be very clear, these are some tasks with which Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to go ahead in order to continue its way to joining NATO.

And I... so I have said to the Secretary General of NATO I think that this it is of essential importance.

Namely Bosnia and Herzegovina does want to become a fully fledged member of NATO, but whatever we have to do in order to achieve that is important, not only for our security. It is important for us internally in our country.

So whatever we are doing today and whatever we are going to continue doing in the future, it is a necessity, it is a need for us, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not only just to join NATO and the European Union, because it is a need for us internally.

Well, although it might seem a little bit odd, but I have to agree with what the Secretary General said, and say that I also share his vision that all the countries from the region should one day become members of NATO and of the European Union, because I think that only when that moment comes we will be able to say that the times of wars and conflicts in our region are behind us. For Europe as a whole.

Thank you and if you have questions I'll be happy to answer them.

Q: Okay, in fact, I will ask two short questions. One for both interlocateurs. The first one is about this meeting that has been summoned by EU and the U.S. a few minutes ago in Sarajevo on the 9th of October in order to have some progress that are difficult to get apparently in the Bosnian leadership.

Mr. Secretary General and Mr. President, did you discuss that matter specifically?

And the second question, I take the opportunity of difficult leadership in a country that has asked for the MAP, Georgia, to ask you what do you think of the report and effectively of the threat or danger for NATO to be linked too closely to a leadership that Georgia seems to have had, which might endanger the whole stability in the region.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: I can confirm that we have discussed how we can further the reform process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The President has informed me about the ongoing work in the country and I have expressed my appreciation of the efforts done to achieve substantial progress.

But of course, we would now have to study all the elements more carefully. I have stressed today that we welcome the application, but also that all applicant countries should be judged upon their own merits and their capability to fulfil the necessary criteria.

As far as the report on Georgia is concerned, I can say that we are still studying the report, and I think, here and now, the most important thing is to look forward, to look into the future. And I would urge all parties in the conflict to avoid any step that could escalate tensions.

ŽELJKO KOMŠIĆ: Obviously I won't answer the second part of the question about Georgia. I will answer the first part of the question.

Without entering here into the expression of various democratic opinions about the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have to say that our country is determined to have the necessary reforms that will lead us into Euro-Atlantic integrations.

And there is political readiness in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to do so.

Whatever NATO is asking of us in order to join it, it all requires a series of tasks. Some are compromises and similar deeds.

And the expectations of NATO towards Bosnia and Herzegovina are very clearly stated. And we simply have to fulfil that if we want to become a NATO member.

If you ask yourselves whether we have got the capacity to do so and whether we are ready to do it, well, I can answer with the affirmative.

I personally think that since the end of the war in Bosnia, we have already managed to achieve some more complex tasks than the ones that lie ahead of us.

So I'm an optimist.

Regardless of some political attitudes or some viewpoints that exist currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina our country is able to do that and it will achieve it.

And I have to say that within the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina there is a consensus in that matter and we have always managed to reach a consensus easily and within a short period of time.

Q: (Inaudible...), Bosnian State TV. You're talking about preconditions, talking about political preconditions. Do you have a list of the political preconditions for the full membership? Are you talking about, for example, constitutional reforms, having one president instead of three, having stronger state government and so on?

That's the question for the Secretary General.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Of course there is a list of conditions to be fulfilled. It's also a negotiation process, but I can confirm that a constitutional reform is of utmost importance. I have also pointed to the importance of continued reform of the defence. And all in all, it is of course, of crucial importance that democratic institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are functional, that they have the right capacity to carry through the necessary reforms.