Meeting of Deputy Defence Ministers of Croatia and Lithuania

The agenda included the bilateral defence co-operation of the two countries, the forthcoming NATO Summit and the participation in the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy, as well as the stability and security in the South-East Europe, emphasising Croatia’s support to the Euro-Atlantic perspective of the countries of the region as its stratetic interest.

Deputy Minister Tafra expressed the appreciation to the Lithuanian partners for the continuous support to Croatia in its integration efforts, and the transfer of experiences provided to its Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces by the Lithuanian Ministry, and for the valuable assistance with the legal framework underlying the deployment of the Croatian team to “ATALANTA” and with the EU funding for the dual purpose projects.

Both sides agreed that NATO was the safety pillar for both countries, and Ms Tafra stated that Croatia remained committed to building the defence capabilities required for fulfilling the tasks and missions within NATO and contributing to its operations. She also stated that Croatia was continuing to contribute to NATO Crisis Management, in view of the situation in Afghanistan and the autonomy of the Afghan National Security Forces in the post-2014 period. The two delegations expressed the expectations that the forthcoming Summit is to reinforce  the trans-Atlantic link and communicate the readiness and solidarity of NATO nations as the guarantee of the security at the international level.

In the situation of restricted defence budgets, the current bilateral co-operation has a reduced scope, and the two sides envisaged future expansion, most conveniently as project-oriented co-operation, primarily in training of working dogs, where Croatia has pledged to provide full support and convey its experiences.

The meeting was followed by the visit to the “Krešimir Ivošević” Working Dogs Training Centre in Dugo Selo near Zagreb.
The Lithuanian delegation is also to visit the Croatian Ministry of the Economy and the “HS Produkt” arms manufacturer from Karlovac.