Minister Bozinovic on NATO role and further stabilization in Eastern Europe

“NATO – after the implementation of the new strategic concept” forum was opened today by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The organizer of the Forum that brought together seven Ministers of Defence of Central Europe, and two hundred other officials and representatives of professional and academic communities, were Institute of Strategic Studies from Krakow, NATO, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Institute of International Relations at Warsaw University and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

In his speech Defence Minister Davor Bozinovic welcomed the main conclusions of the last NATO summit in Lisbon, and stressed the importance of maintaining momentum in their implementation. Bozinovic said that in this context in the future we would work more together and more effectively use our limited defensive resources. Bozinovic emphasized the role of NATO in the stabilization and integration of Southeast Europe into Euro-Atlantic integrations. In this sense Minister said that Croatia strongly supports the efforts of the Alliance in Southeast Europe, and concluded that the security in Southeastern Europe was closely linked and inseparable from the security of the Euro-Atlantic area as a whole.

NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen in his address said that multinational cooperation was no longer a matter of choice but a necessity, and that NATO and its member states must work more through the principle of mutual co-operation with limited resources. He noted that better defence skills, a stronger partnership between countries and stronger cooperation between the European Union and NATO would be priorities in the coming period. Responding to questions during the forum Rasmussen said that the reform of NATO was going well, and that at the next meeting of NATO defence ministers we might expect the adoption of the territorial distribution of the headquarters, reform of agencies and reform of the NATO Headquarters itself.

As for Libya, Rasmussen reiterated that NATO does not intend to intervene militarily in that country, however, NATO has been preparing all the necessary plans. He added that any possible move by NATO would be conditioned with three fundamental principles: the clearly expressed need for such steps, strong support from countries in the region and authorization by the United Nations Security Council.