Conference to mark 5th Anniversary of NATO membership
The Conference marking the fifth anniversary of Croatia’s accession to NATO was held in the Croatian Parliament on 31 March 2014. It was attended by the President of the Republic, Ivo Josipović, the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Leko and Croatian Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović, who in their addresses emphasised that NATO Alliance was based on the political and military co-operation, and increasingly on the basic democracy values.
To be admitted to NATO Croatia had to demonstrate the respect of basic standards and values such as protection of human rights and the rule of law and predictable conduct.
The Conference comprised two panels – “The Republic of Croatia and NATO – from Accession to This Day”; and “The Republic of Croatia and NATO – look into future” respectively, giving the floor to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Vesna Pusić, Defence Minister, Ante Kotromanović, Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, Genera Drago Lovrić, Assistant NATO Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Ambassador Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, former Croatian Ambassadors to NATO, Davor Božinović and Igor Pokaz and the present Permanent Representative to NATO, Ambassador Boris Grigić, as well as the Head of the Delegation of the Croatian Parliament to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Boris Blažeković.
Defence Minister, Ante Kotromanović stressed that Croatian accession to NATO and the victory in the Homeland War had been the two achievements determining the role of the Croatian Armed Forces.
“It has been five years of good experience with NATO. Defence reforms have been conducted thorougly, the respective norms and standards adopted, the Croatian military readiness upgraded, the training system ameliorated, and a valuable experience from the operations has been acquired. We may be a small country, but its voice now counts in Bruxelles and in NATO, and we have proved ourselves as a reliable partner”, concluded the Minister Kotromanović.
Assistant NATO Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Kolinda Grabar Kitarović highlighted that by acceding NATO Croatia joined the Euro-Atlantic family it had always belonged to, and briefly reviewed the situation in the East Europe.
„NATO is entering a new phase, where the technology progress and fighting the increasing security threats will have a prominent role and joint operation will be essential, so I am glad that Croatia has joined a series of multinational projects and assumed the leading role in one of them, and I think that the past five years have been highly beneficial for Croatia and NATO alike, concluded Ambassador Grabar Kitarović.
Senior American official Matthew Mark Horn, who strongly advocated Croatia’s entry to NATO, extended appreciation to Croatia for the participation in ISAF and stated that Croatia’s achievement over a single decade was hardly imaginable “a brilliant example to NATO aspirants”.
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