President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Tours MEMA

President Bakir Izetbegovic, a member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Tri-presidency, visited the Maryland Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday, March 22 during a visit to Camp Fretterd Military Reservation in Reisterstown, Md.

The official visit was part of the National Guard’s State Partnership Program (SPP) with Maryland and Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to enhance bilateral relationships. The president and his delegation were also in town attending the U.S.-Balkans Business Summit at the University of Baltimore.

While at MEMA, the President received a tour of the State Emergency Operations Center and the Maryland Joint Operations Center, the first joint civilian-military 24-hour watch center in the United States. this week. He was briefed about how MEMA helps to coordinate the use of state resources to support local agencies in emergencies and how the state civilian and military agencies work together.

The SPP brings together U.S. states and territories with partner nations through a range of military, civil-military and civil activities under the Maryland Military Department auspices. MEMA resides at Camp Fretterd with the Maryland Military Department, which maintains two State Partnerships — one with Estonia, and one with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The state has partnered with Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2003.

For more information about the visit, you may go to the Maryland Military Department’s Facebook page athttp://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150129774822557. To view a news clip of the visit from WJZ TV, Channel 13, in Baltimore, please go to http://bit.ly/dE83mN