Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Monday in his Jerusalem office with Željka Cvijanović, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The visit was presented as part of efforts to deepen ties and expand political and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of warming relations between Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially Israel’s close contacts with Republika Srpska, the Serb entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sides discussed continuing cooperation and strengthening diplomatic relations.
Israel and Bosnia and Herzegovina established diplomatic relations in 1997, about five years after the Balkan state became independent. Israel handles its relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina through its embassy in Albania, while Bosnia and Herzegovina’s embassy in Israel is in Tel Aviv.
The article noted previous high-level visits between the two countries. Bosnian Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanić visited Israel in 2003, and in 2017 he returned as chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency, meeting Netanyahu in what was described as the first visit by a Bosnian presidency member to Israel. The piece also cited Republika Srpska’s generally friendly posture toward Israel in international forums, including its role in 2011 in preventing Bosnia and Herzegovina from formally backing a Palestinian bid for UN recognition.
