A delegation headed by Ioan Mircea Pascu minister of National Defence pays a two days working visit in the theaters of operations in the former Yugoslavian region where the Romanian military are dislocated. Members of this delegation are General Dr. Mihail Popescu, chief of the Romanian General Staff and the presidents of the Commissions for Defence, Public Order and National Security of the Parliament, Sergiu Nicolaescu and Razvan Ionescu.

Sunday, February 22, 04 the Romanian officials met the Romanian military at Camp Butmir, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. After the military ceremony at SFOR HQ, the members of this delegation had talks with Major General Virgil L. Pakett, SFOR commander and Colonel Maurizio Detalmo Mezzavilla, MSU commander and met the staff officers and the personnel from the national detachments BOSNIA and HOLLAND. The discussions with the military aimed their work and social conditions, the each detachment's fulfillment of their mandate and other social problems general or personal the participants wanted to stress on.

In the after-noon, the Romanian delegation met at Sarajevo the members of the Permanent Military Committee for Military Problems (SKVP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Enes Becirbasic, general secretary of Committee and Savo Sokanovic and Stjepan Pocrnja, his deputy.

There was a mutual information on the situation in the area and the aspects of the bilateral military cooperation especially on the process of re-organization of the Armed Forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the support granted by Romania for joining the Partnership for Peace. Mr. Enes Becirbasic thanked to his counterpart Ioan Mircea Pascu for the support granted by the Romanian military in rebuilding the infrastructure of the country stessing the fact that SFOR had an important role in establishing the institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. SKVP general secretary also showed that the exchange of information and the talks on reform and integration within the European and Euro-Atlantic community are very useful for the institution he is leading and Romania already has a reach experience in this area as active participant to the Partnership for Peace and as a future NATO member.

Mister Pascu showed the Romanian disposability in continuing to support on defence issues in order to create in Bosnia and Herzegovina a strong military institution under the democratic control. He handed over to his counterpart the materials on the participation of the Romanian Armed Forces to the Partnership for Peace thus the Romanian experience should be known and set in value by the military authorities from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Romanian delegation traveled today, February 23,04 to Pristina, Kosovo for visiting the Romanian military acting within KFOR in this province.

MoND Press Office