Simunovic attended NATO conference in RACVIAC

The State Secretary gave a presentation at the panel “The experience of accession after the last enlargement of NATO.” The panel was organized in the second and last day of the conference held in “Vitez Damir Martic” Barracks in Rakitje and organized by RACVIAC – Centre for Security Cooperation and NATO.
During the presentation Simunovic put emphasis on the Croatian experience gained during the accession into the Alliance, focusing on the Annual National Programme (ANP), which Croatia implemented through the Membership Action Plan (MAP). From lessons learned, it is evident that for the successful accession we needed to have adequate and qualified military and civilian personnel, made the reform and organization structure symmetrical with NATO, and implement appropriate, symmetrical procedures, at all levels, Simunovic said. Prerequisites for joining were the political will, public support, the establishment of diplomatic relations with NATO member states and neighbouring countries, and operational efficiency in the implementation of the MAP and the Annual National Programme.

Simunovic also said that it was essential to establish and maintain continuity between the accession process and the membership in NATO. Experiences from accession would have been important in the later integration, Simunovic concluded.

At a later discussion, Secretary of State also emphasized the benefits brought by NATO membership. First of all, Croatia was given greater security at lower costs, which we would not be able to afford by relying on our own capacities. Furthermore, we became active in the decision-making processes, and we sit at the table with countries belonging to the West and share the same values ​​of liberal democracy. When talking about the economy, the fact is that accession to NATO coincided with the global economic crisis. But, for example, membership allowed access of the many Croatian companies to NATO biddings opened only to member countries and some of them, already used the possibility, Simunovic said.
The conference “NATO enlargement – integration and security in Southeast Europe” was attended by representatives of the ministries of defence and foreign ministers from NATO and PfP countries from the region (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro) as well as representatives of NATO, EUFOR, the Atlantic Council, Institute for International Relations and Political Science University from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The purpose of the conference is to examine NATO integration and the accession perspective of Southeast Europe, through sharing of experiences of reforms necessary for the fulfilment of the requirements for membership, especially in light of the NATO new strategic concept adopted at the Lisbon Summit in November 2010.

In addition to the State Secretary Simunovic, NATO Military Committee spokesman, Italian Brigadier General Massimo Panizzi, gave a lecture on “The upcoming security challenges in the frame of the new NATO strategic concept”. Key topics of the presentations were the strategic environment and current NATO operations and security challenges. Speaking of the latter issue, General Pazzini as key challenges marked NATO transformation, Smart Defence Concept, strengthening relations with Russia and other partners, the fight against terrorism, cyber defence and missile defence.