The United States welcomes the appointment of a new Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We congratulate Chairman Bevanda and the entire government as they take up the important responsibility of leading Bosnia and Herzegovina forward on behalf of its citizens. With the new Council in place, we are confident that the Bosnian Government will be able to build on its recent passage of EU-related legislation to open the door for a Bosnian application for EU candidacy.

We also expect that the government will address as top priorities an agreement on a 2012 budget and the registration of defense property to meet NATO’s condition for full participation in the Membership Action Plan. We look forward to continuing to support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration aspirations, alongside our European and other international partners.