Minister Bozinovic met NATO ACT Commander

In a media statement Minister Bozinovic expressed his satisfaction with the cooperation between MOD and Croatian Armed Forces and NATO Allied Command Transformation, which has been located in Norfolk in the U.S., saying that this Command at the time being dealt with one of the key issues when talking about the future of NATO, particularly after the Lisbon summit, which was for NATO to make it more efficient, more effective in times of economic crisis that affected almost all NATO members in terms of reduced defence budgets. “Allied Command Transformation in this sense has a key role, and what this command does certainly helps Croatia. Specifically, in this moment we are in the process of adoption of strategic documents in the area of defence, which should provide a vision of the CAF for the period to come, and this is where advice and expertise of the ACT certainly helps”, Minister Bozinovic said. He also added that new strategic documents had to be realistic and match our real capabilities and needs, and primarily aimed at further modernization and equipping of our Armed Forces. “We want to do everything to make this system more efficient and the system that will ultimately cost taxpayers less”, Bozinovic said.

NATO ACT Commander General Stephan Abrial thanked Minister Bozinovic for the meeting and expressed his satisfaction with the visit to Croatia at the moment of marking the second anniversary of the Croatia’s membership in NATO. He pointed out that Croatia has been a strong partner in all NATO activities, including of course the activities in operations, primarily in Afghanistan, where Croatia provided large contribution to the mentoring and training of Afghan security forces. He also expressed satisfaction with the reforms and, since this Command deals with issues of NATO reforms and transformation, the General stressed the readiness for further cooperation with Croatia in all areas.
During a visit to Croatia, General Abrail met the President and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Ivo Josipovic, Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations Mario Nobilo, and held a meeting with Chief of General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Drago Lovric.