The U. S. – Adriatic Charter
Based on the model of the US- Baltic Charter, the Foreign Ministers of Croatia, Macedonia and Albania, Tonino Picula, Ilinka Mitreva and Ilir Meta, and the United States Secretary of State Colin Powell signed an official document on 2 May 2003 in Tirana entitled “The U.S. Adriatic Partnership Charter”, establishing the U.S. – Adriatic Charter.
The signing of the U.S.- Adriatic Charter confirmed the continuity of the United States’ support for NATO’s Open Door Policy towards the aspirant countries from southeast Europe.
By admitting two new members ( Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina) at the foreign ministers’ meeting in Helsinki on 4 December 2008 the Charter expanded its activities and revised its name to A-5 – symbolic of the number of southeast European countries involved. Serbia and Slovenia have been observers in A-5 since 2008 and Kosovo since 2012 respectively.
The expanding of the Initiative has strengthened regional integration aimed at promoting regional security, stability and Euro-Atlantic integration of all southeast European countries by strengthening political, defence and security cooperation.