Minister Bozinovic received Minnesota NG Commander
Defence Minister Davor Bozinovic received today, Wednesday, 20 July 2011, in the official visit the Commander of the Minnesota National Guard Major General Richard C. Nash, with which the Armed Forces record 15th years of successful cooperation through the U.S. “State Partnership Program”.
Minister Bozinovic and Maj. Gen. Richard Nash talked about previous cooperation between CAF and Minnesota NG, which has been successfully implemented for 15 years, with the conclusion that there was room for further expansion of cooperation. Croatian side is particularly interested in use of active reserve where Minnesota NG has a great experience, but also Croatia was interested in the way of involvement of the armed forces during natural disasters and catastrophes in which NG Minnesota contributes its resources across the United States. Also, given the experience in implementing training and mentoring of the armed forces, Minister Bozinovic emphasized the possibility of conducting joint training for the needs of Croatian Armed Forces and Minnesota NG and for the interested partner countries.
Bozinovic and Nash also talked about a joint Croatian – U.S. multinational OMLT which has been participating in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan, then about the school of military police in Afghanistan, where Croatia is the leading nation, and on the recent successful military exercises in Croatia and the United States which involved members of the Croatian Armed Forces and Minnesota NG. For example, until now on the training at the “Camp Ripley” in Minnesota have been more than 230 members of the Croatian Armed Forces, while the various forms of training and education in the U.S. in the past completed about 550 people from Croatia who were on more than 750 individual military trainings in that country .
The situation in the region, and cooperation through the U.S. – Adriatic Charter (A5) were also discussed between Minister Bozinovic and Major General Nash, and the meeting was also attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Croatia James Foley, Minnesota NG Joint Staff Director Brigadier General Neal Loidolt, and Army Commander Major General Dragutin Repinc. General Nash also paid a separate visit to the Chief of General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Drago Lovric.