Official signing of the 2 million USD worth contract between the Embassy of the Kingdom od Saudi Arabia and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in BiH marks the kick-off of activities on finalizing the infrastructure improvements at ammunition storage site “Kula”, Mrkonjić Grad and arms storage site “Teufik Buza Tufo”, Visoko.

The financial resources were secured by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the continuation of project EXPLODE+ that will enable necessary infrastructure and security interventions on above mentioned locations, as well as to contribute to the overall increase of the storage safety and efficiency of ammunition and EOD stockpile in the hands of the BiH Ministry of Defense and the Armed Force.

„This contract is tied to, not only Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces, but also to the security and stability of BiH and this region of Europe, because BiH was burdened by the significant amounts of unstable ammunition and surplus weapons after the war. In this way, we all jointly contribute to the peace, security and stability, as well as prevent possible negative reactions, smuggling of weapons and ammunition and, the worst that can happen, explosions“ noted Marina Pendeš, BiH Defense Minister.

„Today we witnessed official act of signing of contract where Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented through Ministry of Defense of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, provides its donation to BiH Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces, in order for Armed Forces to be able to deal with the problem of surplus weapons and problem of inadequate ammunition and weapons storage“ said H.E. Hani bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Mominah, Ambassador of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to BiH.

“UNDP has been in the forefront of the reduction of surplus and unsafe ammunition, and capacity building around that, as well as of upgrading the storage sites over the last 15 years” said Sezin Sinanoglu, UNDP in BiH Resident Representative.

EXPLODE+ project, as a multi-donor platform to enhance security standards, is implemented by the BiH MoD and UNDP with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the United States of America, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and EUFOR. EXPLODE+ is continuation of project EXPLODE that was financed by the European Union since 2013.