Visit to defence estates, HQ AIR and RAF Brize Norton by Ministry of defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina (26-29/10/2009)

Between 26-29 October 2009, Wg Cdr C H Goss, Chief Logistics and Infrastructure HQ EUFOR, together with his Senior Infrastructure Advisor, escorted to the UK four members of the BiH Ministry of Defence responsible for BiH military estate and infrastructure. The purpose of this visit was for them to understand the problems faced and experienced by the UK military in its estate rationalization and modernisation programmes.

A full day’s briefing was held at Defence Estates, Sutton Coldfield on 27 October and covered Germany rebasing, contracts, the Defence Estate Development Plan, disposals, housing, Through Life Capability Management and the Defence training estate. The briefs were extremely comprehensive, professional and extremely well received by the BiH personnel.

On 28 October, briefs were held at HQ AIR and covered estate review and rationalisation and projects. This was then followed to a visit to RAF Brize Norton for a very comprehensive brief on Project Future Brize.

It was agreed that the visit was of great benefit to the BiH MOD and gave the Bosnian personnel, as well as the EUFOR Senior Infrastructure Advisor, many ideas for their own military estate and more importantly the problems they could face rationalizing and modernizing the military estate and its infrastructure.

Defence section supports EUFOR football tournament (15/10/2009)

On14 and 15 October 2009, EUFOR in partnership with Armed Forces ofBosnia and Herzegovina hosted a children’s football tournament in theOlympic centre Zetra in Sarajevo. The tournament brought together teamsof 13-15-year old boys from across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

TheUK Embassy defence section supported the EUFOR tournament by donating acup that was presented to the second placed team of primary school“Camil Sijaric” from Nemila (Zenica) by Ambassador Michael Tatham.

                  

Baroness Taylor visited Bosnia and Herzegovina (15/9/2009)

The UK Minister for International Defence and Security Rt Hon Baroness Ann Taylor visited Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on 14-15 September 2009.

Baroness Taylor met with the BiH Presidency, Minister of Defence, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, High Representative/EU Special Representative, Commanders of EUFOR and NATO, Head of the EUPM Mission, IOM and ICMP with whom she spoke about the aspirations of BiH towards the NATO membership.

Duringhervisit to BiH Ministry of Defence, Baroness Taylor and BiH MinisterofDefence Selmo Cikotic signed a new Memorandum of Understandingonextending the support to the Peace Support Operations TrainingCentre(PSOTC) by 2013.

She also visited the British members ofEUFORand laid the wreath at the memorial for British soldiers who losttheirlives in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For photos from the visit check our Image Gallery.

MAPEX at the 5th Brigade in Tuzla (2/9/2009)

On Wednesday 2 September the Defence Attaché, Lt Col Stephen Croft, visited a MAPEX at 5th Brigade in Tuzla. A MAPEX is a map-driven staff exercise, the aim being to test the NATO staff  procedures of the HQ. This exercise was being overseen by staff from the Peace Support Operations Training Centre (PSOTC), itself a project in which the UK is the principal donor.

Colonel Croft accompanied other members of the Military Attaché Corps in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the exercise. All were very impressed by the professionalism and competence of the Brigade Commander, Colonel Senad Masovic, and his team.

                   

Alister Fortune receives an MBE for his work on MESP project in BiH (14/7/2009)

We are delighted and proud to announce that our colleague Alistair Fortune has recently been awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in Peacekeeping English Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, here known as Military English Support Project (MESP).

Alistair began working for the British Council in 1994 and has wealth of experience in English Language Training (ELT). He was a Senior Lecturer in ELT at the University of Sofia in Bulgaria and a Methodology Adviser for Pre-service Teacher Training (PRESETT) at the University of Novi Sad in Yugoslavia. From 1999 - 2005 he was Peacekeeping English Project Manager in Estonia and then moved to manage it in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Military English Support Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina commenced in 2005 and has now come to an end, nine months earlier than planned, due to the withdrawal of government funding. The project has been handed over to the BiH Armed Forces and BiH Ministry of Defence.

On receiving an MBE, Alister says:"To be honest, I was flabbergasted when I was first told about being awarded an MBE. I really believe that the honour is for all those who have been involved in the Peacekeeping English Project over the years. I feel that I was the lucky one to get my name on the award itself."


UK Armed Forces Day marked in Sarajevo (25/6/2009)

The first UK Armed Forces Day will be taking place on Saturday 27 June 2009. It is the one day each year to celebrate the work of the Armed Forces community.
UK Armed Forces Day is an opportunity for the nation to show its support for the UK Service men and women, whether veteran or still serving. It’s an opportunity to honour and celebrate the work they do in support of the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:
‘The British Armed Forces are the very best in the world. We should all be proud of the brave job that they do, and grateful to them for the sacrifices they and their families make. Armed Forces Day on 27 June is the opportunity to celebrate and recognise their huge contribution.’

Here in Sarajevo on Thursday 25 June, the UK Defence Attaché Lt Col Stephen Croft hosted a reception at the Ambassador’s residence for the UK members of the Armed Forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, attaché colleagues and his many BiH military and civilian partners.

                  

For more photos check our Image gallery.


The UK National Army Museum custodians in Bosnia and Herzegovina (28/5/2009)

Two custodians of the National Army Museum of the United Kingdom paid a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last week of May 2009. Danu Reid and Mairead O’Hara met with the British Embassy Sarajevo staff and gave a presentation on the Museum and its current exhibitions, as part of the Embassy’s Diversity plan. But the main reason of their visit was to conduct interviews with civilians who could tell about their experiences of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mairead O’Hara explains the reasons of their visit: “We are working on an exhibition that looks at the British Army and its work over the last thirty years, and will be focusing on many of the conflicts in which it has engaged.  It is our hope that, by talking to people who have lived through a war, as well as with British soldiers, we will offer visitors to our museum a broader understanding of these conflicts, and of the role that the British Army plays on the world stage.”

‘Train the Trainers’ project launched (4/5/2009)

On 4 May, the Defence Attaché, Lt Col Stephen Croft, and his Dutch colleague, Colonel Fred Besselink, attended the opening ceremony of the ‘Train the Trainers’ project, which is jointly sponsored by the UK and Netherlands governments. 

Representatives from the British Council, officers from NATO HQ Sarajevo and senior officers from the Bosnian Armed Forces (BiH AF) were also present at the ceremony. Colonel Robert Susac of BiH AF warmly thanked the Dutch and British governments for their generosity.

This important project aims to build capacity in English teaching in the BiH AF, by training officers who will then teach English to their fellow officers and soldiers. The project is part of the wider Military English Support Programme (MESP), currently run by the British Council, which is to be transferred to full BiH ownership during 2009.

Officers and senior non-commissioned officers of the BiH AF will be instructed in teaching techniques and methods, enabling them to deliver English language training fully run and owned by the BiH Ministry of Defence and BiH AF.