SARAJEVO – Sebastian Kurz, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria, was today in Sarajevo as the first stop on his official visit to all of the Western Balkans states. Kurz conveyed messages of good cooperation and understanding between the two countries, stating that the Western Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular, are a foreign policy priority for his country. He also stated that „a European Union without the Western Balkan states, is a Union which is incomplete“.
During his day in Sarajevo he held separate meetings with his Bosnian-Herzegovinian counterpart Igor Crnadak, with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdić, but also with the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the National Theatre of Bosnia and Herzegovina Kurz took part in a Cultural Talk, organized to recapitulate on the two countries cultural cooperation and similarities, but also to kick off the „Year of culture – Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria 2016“, which is aiming to strenghten further the relations in this field.
On current issues on Bosnia’s EU membership application he noted that Austria supports the announced sending of a membership application. In an interview to Klix.ba he, however, spoke of the necessity to continue the reform process and the adoption of a coordination mechanism, to make the application credible and acceptable.
Exclusively form Sarajevo, Denis Piplaš, European Western Balkans corespondent