EUFOR Commander, Rear Admiral Hans-Jochen Witthauer, told the press in Sarajevo on Thursday that he was glad to be able "to make this last step in a long process of handing back the airspace tomorrow (Friday)" and that he can finally transfer full command and control back to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
A protocol on the release of the lower sky (up to 3,000 metres) to Bosnia will be signed on Friday at the International Civil Organisation for Aviation in Paris by the EUFOR commander along with the country's Transport and Communications Minister, Bozo Ljubic.
However, the technical part of air control will still be performed by services in Zagreb and Belgrade.
Since Bosnia did not have adequate navigational, communications and meteorological equipment, which was destroyed in the war, neighbouring Croatia and Serbia were given the task to control Bosnia's middle and upper skies (over 8,000 metres). This was arranged with the consent of SFOR, EUFOR's predecessor, that is NATO-led Stabilisation Force, after the end of the war. Sarajevo is paying Zagreb and Belgrade services in this field.
Last August, officials of Bosnia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement under which Sarajevo was granted a loan of 12 million euros for establishing the air traffic management system.
Thanks to the funds from the loan, Bosnia is expected to take over the control over its air space in 2009.
Bosnian Finance Minister Dragan Vrankic said on Thursday that in 2009 the country's authorities would purchase and install all the necessary equipment for the control of airspace and navigation of planes.