Minister Kotromanovic and Ambassador Foley on defence cooperation

Minister Kotromanovic thanked for the support that the U.S.  has been providing to the Republic of Croatia, where he highlighted that the U.S. is our strategic partner, expressing the wish that the cooperation between the two countries in the coming period would be at an even higher level.
During talks with Ambassador Foley, Minister Kotromanovic said that the new Government and he as the head of the Ministry of Defence have a clear vision of development of defence. He pointed out the current activities in the work of the new structure of the Defence Ministry and its modernization, then work on a new strategic documents (National Security Strategy, Defence Strategy, Long Term Development Plan and Strategic Defence Review) as well as activities related to changes in legislation of defence.

Ambassador Foley congratulated Minister Kotromanovic on his appointment, agreeing that there was always a possibility for even better cooperation, stressing that the U.S. provided and will provide support to Croatia, which for the U.S. has an important role in the region. Ambassador Foley particularly pointed out that U.S. appreciated Croatian contribution to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and KFOR in Kosovo, noting that the United States with its strategic partners have a responsibility for global security, although the United States have been also faced with economic challenges and budget cuts in the defence sector. Nevertheless, despite this, Foley said he believeed that these circumstances would not significantly affect the scope of cooperation between the U.S. and Croatia in the defence area.

Minister Kotromanovic and Ambassador Foley also discussed the activities of the two countries in international peacekeeping missions as well as bilateral cooperation in 2012.