Croatian delegation arrived at the NATO Summit

The Republic of Croatia at a meeting in Portugal, together with other NATO members, will co-decide on three fundamental tasks of the Summit: the adoption of a new Strategic Concept, which will determine the actions of the Alliance in the next ten years, in making decisions about the terms of the international forces withdraw from Afghanistan and on passing the responsibility for security in that country to the Afghan army and police until 2014, and the strengthening of relations with Russia on NATO-Russia Summit on Saturday.

Besides President Josipovic, and ministers Vukelic and Jandrokovic, in the Croatian delegation are also Chief of General Staff General Josip Lucic, Deputy Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Slavko Baric, state secretaries Pjer Simunovic and Davor Bozinovic and representatives of the permanent Mission of Croatia to NATO, of the President’s Office and of the Ministry of Defence.

First day of the summit there will be a meeting of Heads of State / Government of member countries in the format of the North Atlantic Council, where it is planned to adopt a new NATO Strategic Concept and reform package. Adoption of a new Strategic Concept will confirm maintenance of collective security of NATO countries as NATO’s original and primary role. Also, the new strategic concept will serve as a guide for further development of NATO security capacity and efficiency by defining and identifying new threats, capabilities and partners.

It is also envisaged to make decisions about the development of new NATO capabilities in the context of missile defence, but also in terms of cooperation between NATO and Russia to establish a territorial missile defence. Heads of State and Government will be submitted for adoption a document that defines the key missing capabilities of the Alliance, which was discussed during a meeting of NATO defence ministers in October in Brussels.

Second day of the Summit on Saturday, November 20, has been foreseen for the discussion on the Summit Declaration, the fundamental political document that defines different areas of importance for the alliance, such as, Afghanistan and other operations, as well as the open-door policy, the issues of arms control, missile defence, counterterrorism, defence against cyber attacks, energy security, defence transformation / reform of the Alliance, etc. Also, the meeting on the ISAF operation has been foreseen, where it would be discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, as well as a new phase of transition, with an emphasis on building the Afghan security forces.

In the afternoon a meeting in the format NATO-Russia Council has been planned with the aim of strengthening cooperation on issues of mutual interest as defined by the joint review of security challenges of the 21^st century on which NATO and Russia worked together, which include Afghanistan, the fight against narcotics, counter piracy, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and combating terrorism.