Assist. Minister Mihatov attends NATO defence ministers meeting
NATO defence ministers gathered for a regular meeting in Brussels on 13 and 14 February 2019, to discuss the security challenges in a critical moment for the transatlantic security. Croatia was represented by the Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Petar Mihatov.
The ministers held separate talks on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)ITreaty, NATO Deterrence and Defence Posture, the burden sharing among the member nations, NATO-led operations and missions and the European defence co-operation. The meeting was attended by the Defence Minister Radmila Šekerinska representing the Northern Macedonia as Invitee, and the acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan.
Addressing the violation of the INF Treaty by Russia all 29 member nations agreed that Russia’s SSC-8 missile was a significant risk to the security of the Alliance. NATO announced to take consideration of the outcome of the Russian violation of the Treaty and taking defensive, measured and coordinated measures and also support the United States’s announced withdraw from the Treaty.
The ministers discussed the credible deterrence and defence posture, including NATO’s “Four Thirties” initiative, which implies 30-day readiness for 30 combat ships, 30 air squadrons and 30 land battalions. All member nations committed to working to implement the decision regarding the readiness initiative, and adopted new political guidelines for defence planning.
At the working dinner the ministers discussed fair burden sharing, and the Secretary General commended the achieved progress and reminded of the importance of continued work on the implementation regarding the defence budget (the target 2% GDP) and allocating funds to modernisation of the armed forces (20% of national defence budgets), primarily for the required capability targets. The defence investments of the European nations and Canada have increased their defence investments since 2016 by USD 41 billion, and are estimated to attain USD 100 million by 2020.
On 14 February the ministers reviewed NATO-led operations (in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, maritime operations) and nderlined the continuous support to the Afghan security forces with creating conditions for peaceful solutions and asistance with preventing the re-emergence of ISIS and other terrprist grpups in Iraq. The Ministers also discussed the co-operation NATO-the EU, joined by the High EU Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the defence ministers of Sweden and Finland.
The Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Mihatov reported on the ongoing activities and plans of the Republic of Croatia related to the fulfilling of the Defence Investment Pledge, the implementation of capability targets and the engagement in NATO-led missions and operations and the Enhanced Forward Presence.
The Republic of Croatia welcomed the new Political Guidelines for Defence Planning and stated its view on the coordination of readiness initiative with the ongoing efforts related to the Lead Nations concept. Addressing the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan the Assistant Minister underlined the necessity of joint planning of future actions and reminded of the importance of NATO-led KFOR for the stability of southeast Europe.
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