Briefing for media upon first anniversary of NATO membership
On this day last year, April 1, Croatia officially became a full member of NATO. On this occasion the Ministry of Defence has prepared a briefing for media representatives with State Secretary of Ministry of Defence Pjer Simunovic and Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Davor Bozinovic.
Secretary of State Bozinovic talked about foreign policy and security framework of NATO membership. “All that we presented to the public before the accession of Croatia to NATO now is experiencing a confirmation”, Bozinovic said. “Croatia is a more visible factor in international relations, and our interests are successfully profiled within the international community. NATO no longer exists without Croatia which participates in decision-making process”, he said. Talking about current events in the Alliance, MFAEI State Secretary emphasized the process of drafting a new Strategic Concept of NATO, which will answer questions dealing with contemporary security risks. Second issue is the question of enlargement, in which Croatia plays a very active role. Particularly, since the perspective of expansion will be related to the region of Southeast Europe. Croatia supports it, because it is in our interest the expansion of NATO in our immediate neighbourhood. Regarding the situation in Afghanistan, the Government is aware of the importance of stabilizing the country for the North Atlantic area.
MOD State Secretary Pjer Simunovic focused on defensive-military segment of NATO membership. The priority themes set are further development of Croatia’s contributions to collective defence system, the development of the contribution to the Alliance in crisis response operations and peace support operations, and gradually the full integration of Croatia in all parts of the Alliance. Currently, as part of the integration process, we are in process of integration of our systems into the information system of NATO, Joint Allied Air Defence, in the process of adopting the NATO acquis and in the process of filling the positions in NATO command structures. “Through the past year Croatia has proven to be an authentic member”, Simunovic concluded.
In answers to reporters’ questions it was confirmed that the possibility of increasing of CAF members in ISAF mission in Afghanistan for a further 20 instructors, which would be deployed in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif is under consideration. The importance of the CAF contribution in the ISAF peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan in terms of the restructuring of forces and of training teams, as well as participation in the artillery and aviation training was also highlighted on the conference.