UK Chief of Defence Staff visits MOD

The discussion at the meeting was on the European integration process in the Southeast Europe region, the efforts undertaken by the international community to stabilize the political situation in BH and collective contributions to allied operations – stabilizing Afghanistan (ISAF) and the fight against piracy (Atalanta). They also discussed the modalities of improving and intensifying defence and security cooperation between the United Kingdom and Croatia.
Minister Kotromanović said that Croatia sees Britain as a significant partner, taking into account our common membership in Euro-Atlantic structures (NATO and EU), as well as a large number of areas where we share common views and interests, whereby the Minister emphasized the common interest in maintaining necessary defence capabilities.
The Minister also pointed out that from our side there was a desire to deepen and intensify co-operation, and in that sense, Minister Kotromanović said that one of the priorities of the future cooperation should be quality, not quantity, that is, within the framework of cooperation we should not insist on number of activities but on the substance and on the development of project-oriented cooperation.
During the meeting, both sides highlighted the excellent cooperation between navies of the two countries, and as potential areas for future cooperation were mentioned training, joint exercises, development of interoperability and possibility to use Croatian training capacities for training of British forces but also to more actively use the opportunities in the UK.

General Richards also expressed his desire to strengthen cooperation in terms of defence planning and training in post Afghan era and intensifying cooperation in the field of geo-strategic planning, particularly in the second half of this decade. General Richards also stressed the need for a stronger reliance on the Republic of Croatia in the process of improving the security situation in BH and in the region of Southeast Europe, especially next year when Croatia becomes a full member of the European Union.

In addition, the delegation exchanged views on all issues of bilateral cooperation of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia. After the meeting with the Minister of Defence, British Chief of Defence Staff, General Richard was received by the Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Drago Lovrić. They talked about the transformation of the Armed Forces and NATO integration, international military operations, and the situation in the region.
During the visit, the delegation of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom will also visit the CAF Army and Navy Commands.