Bilateral defence consultations with the U.S. and a visit to the UN
Assistant Minister for Defence Policy Dragan Lozančić with the delegation, held the regular bilateral defence consultations from 24 to 27 July 2012 in Washington, all in according to the Plan of the bilateral defence cooperation between the Croatian Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Bilateral defence consultations are conducted regularly every two years, and the last one have been carried out in Zagreb in May 2010.
The majority of this year’s consultation was conducted in the U.S. Department of Defense through meetings with the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph McMillan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Celleste Wallander, Commander of the Minnesota National Guard Maj. Gen. Richard Nash, and with the representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Rear Admiral Harbeson.
During the meetings both sides confirmed a strong partnership between the two countries, and shared the intention to further develop bilateral relations and defence cooperation. American and Croatian sides are ready to continue to work well in preparations for participation in operations, in the operations, in building defence capabilities and in the preparation and joint training of forces. Both sides confirmed the common commitment to maintaining security and stability in Southeastern Europe and the intention to provide full support for Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries in the region.
During consultations, Croatian delegation also held separate meetings in the U.S. State Department with the Assistant Deputy State Secretary for South and Central Europe, Philip Reeker, with the Head of the Office for the European Security and Political Affairs Brent Hartley and Head of the Office for Afghanistan James DeHart. Meetings were also held with representatives of the U.S. Congress Elton Gallegly (Chairman of the Congressional Croatian Caucus in the House of Representatives) and Michael Turner, Head of the U.S. delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a member of the Armed Forces Committee and a member of the Congressional Croatian Caucus.
During the visit to the United States, on 27 July 2012, Assistant Minister of Defence Lozančić met the UN Assistant Secretary General Dmitry Titov. During the meeting, they discussed the situation in Syria and Croatia’s participation in the UNDOF and UNSMIS peacekeeping operations in Syria where we currently deployed a total of 98 members of the Croatian Armed Forces.