Letter of H. E. Zeljko Komsic to Chair of the first Canadian – Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Friendship Group

Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada
Published: January 12, 2012  

Hon Dave Mackenzie, MP Oxford

Chair of the first Canadian – Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Friendship Group

Dear Mr. Mackenzie

With great pleasure we have received the information about the formation of the first Canada-Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Friendship Group and I wish to express my sincere appreciation for your leadership in this Group. Please forward my greetings to the honourable Canadian parliamentarians who are the members of this Friendship Group. I wish you success in your work in the forthcoming period.

I believe that the first Canada-Bosnia and Herzegovina Friendship Group will significantly improve relations between Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and help in achieving direct parliamentary attention to the needs of all Bosnians and Herzegovians in Canada, the country in which they have found their new home.

As one of the first countries to recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada has always offered its support to my country and its people on their path to independence, freedom and democracy.  The Government of Canada, through its various departments, has played a significant role in the development of my country in terms of peace keeping, security, reconstruction, institutional reform, promotion of good governance and the rule of law.

As a member of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, Canada is a strong support of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s aspirations to Euro-Atlantic integration. Canada welcomed NATO’s conditional offer for Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the Membership Action Plan at the April 2010 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tallinn. The NATO membership remains to a priority and strategic foreign policy goal for my country.

Finally, I am certain that the first Canada-Bosnia and Herzegovina Parliamentary Friendship Group and the activities of the Canadian Parliament will help to improve cooperation between the two states including strengthening the cooperation between the two parliaments. I wish to assure you that Bosnia and Herzegovina will contribute to the overall strengthening of both the cooperation between the two states, as well as the friendship between our people. With this aim in mind, I am personally willing to make a significant effort to contribute to its achievement. Allow me to use this opportunity to wish you and all the members of the Friendship Group all the best in 2012.

Zeljko Komsic,

Chair of the Presidency of the Bosnia and Herzegovina