On the 25th and 26th of April 2011, a seminar was held in Sarajevo, at the House of the Armed Forces of BiH, with the aim to strengthen democratic institutions to prepare the country for NATO accession.
Discussions were on specific details about the preparation of documents in the Membership Action Plan, implementation of an effective communication strategy and the defence strategic review, which is on-going in both countries. Currently the main priority of the Ministry of Defence is the Strategic defence review that has been introduced by Miroslav Mizera, Adviser to the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic. Oľga Gyárfášová, from the Institute for Public Affairs, talked about how, with whom, and why it is important to communicate with the public about the country’s NATO membership.
The Ambassador of the Slovak Republic in Turkey Vladimir Jakabčin and the President of the Slovak Atlantic Commission Rastislav Káčer, who actively participated on Slovakia’s accession to NATO, discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Slovakia when meeting the pre-accession reform requirements. The Slovak Ambassador in Sarajevo Miroslav Mojžita also contributed to the extraordinary success of the Slovak initiative.
The event was organised by the Centre for Security Studies in Sarajevo and the Slovak Atlantic Commission within the long term project of the Slovak Atlantic Commission „Improving Democratic Institutions – Door to Europe“. Another partner from of the project from Bosnia and Herzegovina is Center for International Relations in Banja Luka.
The project of the Slovak Atlantic Commission „Improving Democratic Institutions – Door to Europe“ is financially supported by SlovakAid – Official Development Assistance Agency of the Slovak Republic.