National Defence Committee on May 29th, 2012

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

So is the military prepped? Historically, it's from abroad, and I assume that means Russia. Do you see your biggest threat as actually being internal at this point?

[Martin Raguz]

Internal threat means various political positions that are still not harmonized. That's the challenge, but I believe we will settle that very successfully. With that, we will reduce many security threats and possibilities, and I believe that's the biggest priority for us.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Is that the biggest thing that slows you from getting into the EU?

[Martin Raguz]

I would say that it is the biggest delay of all. That's why we proceed so slowly.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

What is your perception of Russia's changing role vis-à-vis NATO?

[Martin Raguz]

It is strategic. In these past few weeks, we have seen an anti-missile shield positioned in Turkey and some other countries. We see that Russia has answers to that. The Western Balkans have always been subject to the penetration of big foreign powers. That's why this situation is reflected in that area.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

What do they think of Turkey's changing perception—it's expansionary views—of its place in the world?

[Martin Raguz]

Turkey is seeing economic and every type of progress, and they ask to be recognized for that progress and validation of its influence in other areas.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Is it a good influence on Bosnia and Herzegovina?

[Martin Raguz]

We believe that Turkey can be a constructive factor.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

What is more important to Bosnia and Herzegovina, membership in NATO or membership in the EU?

[Martin Raguz]

At this time, it's definitely NATO.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Would you like to answer a bit?

[Denis Becirovic]

You asked about the role of Turkey, and I can offer you an answer, since I am a professor of contemporary history at one of the universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. You are aware that in some Islamic countries there is a campaign being run that the west is against Islamic countries. The answer is that Turkey, a Muslim country, is a member of NATO. There is also Albania. So the hypothesis does not hold water: The west is not fighting the Islamic countries. That is crucial in viewing the global fight against terrorism.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

That's an important insight—that the west is not anti-Islam.

[Denis Becirovic]

Yes.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

How am I doing?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

You've got one more minute.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Canada has essentially withdrawn at this point—and certainly militarily, and in other ways. Is there any role that you think Canada could play that would be useful?

[Denis Becirovic]

Of course. We need Canada's support on our road to NATO. Canada is one of the most influential countries in the NATO alliance and, for us in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is crucially important that we have your support. Just as in other countries in southeast Europe, there are NATO skeptics.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

What about in terms of institution building, political institution building?

[Martin Raguz]

I believe that is an important question. The crucial answer to how we succeeded in merging three armies into one is that we had excellent cooperation and partnership with crucial countries. I believe that partnership is essential at this stage on our road to NATO. There was a point in time when the focus shifted from Bosnia and Herzegovina because of other priorities in the world, because of the fatigue and other reasons.

In our work the tempo slowed down; we sensed that, it was noticeable. So we do not run away from being personally responsible but we do need partnership as it was developed from the previous conflict.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you.

The time has expired.

We're going to go to a five-minute round now, starting with Mr. Norlock.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and through you to the witnesses, thank you for coming today.

I'm going to continue the discussion on NATO, as this committee has been studying NATO, and its strategic concept in particular. The observations I've made during this study and, in particular, when the minister of defence of Lithuania attended, were the differences in capabilities, policies, and postures of nations in NATO. I wonder if you could comment, because it's important for Canadians to understand the capabilities and contributions that other nations are able to bring to the alliance.

In your opinion, what are the current defence priorities and postures for Bosnia and Herzegovina? Then, the second part of that has to do with the smart defence. I guess simply put, what are your thoughts on smart defence and, in particular, very succinctly, what does Bosnia and Herzegovina bring to NATO that NATO would want to have?

[Milorad Zivkovic]

As I stated previously, we in Bosnia and Herzegovina have well-trained soldiers, morally, physically, psychologically. In those missions where it came to demanding healthy assistance, we proved ourselves. We see that even Canada is going to withdraw its troops in 2014, so there is a general lack of people volunteering to participate in these missions. NATO can look at Bosnia and Herzegovina as a back-up country that will try to compensate for the lack of people and resources in missions throughout the world. On the second side, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with membership of NATO, gains regional and internal security.