Bozinovic held lecture at Columbia University in New York

Minister Bozinovic recalled that Croatia last month ended six-year negotiations on membership in the European Union, which was time consuming and difficult process that involved a number of reforms and full cooperation with international institutions. Minister Bozinovic particularly stressed that the implementation of demanding reforms in Croatia as well as strong political leadership of the Government headed by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor was one of the key elements for the success of Croatian joining to Euro-Atlantic integrations. Not only for Croatia, it is a process that is important for the region of Southeast Europe as a whole, and Bozinovic also stressed that there were three key issues facing the advancement of the region closer to Euro integrations: the functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the relations between Belgrade and Pristina regarding Kosovo and the disputes between Athens and Skopje regarding the name of the country. Bozinovic particularly expressed his concern with the situation in relation to the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Regional cooperation and its importance was also one of the topics of Bozinovic lecture at the Harriman Institute, where he also recalled the central role of the US-Adriatic Charter (A5), which highly contributed to the strengthening of cooperation in this region.

As for Croatian involvement in NATO and ISAF contribution, Minister Bozinovic said that Croatia was always ready to help when needed and when possible, and that Croatia understood its role and its contribution in peace support missions of NATO, UN and EU, which contributed to stabilizing the situation in crisis areas. He also mentioned Croatian leading role in the formation of military police school in Afghanistan, stressing that Croatia had more than half of its forces in the country involved in training and mentoring the Afghan army and police, which was a concrete contribution to the military and police in that country to independently assume responsibility for the security of their country.

By Croatia’s NATO accession more than two years ago and Croatia’s EU accession in 2013, Croatia will not cease to tend for other countries of the region to get closer to joining the Euro-Atlantic integrations, and Croatia will have this issue of South East Europe high on its list of priorities, because it is in the Croatian interests, Bozinovic concluded.