NATO Strategic Military Partner Conference opened
A two-day International Strategic Military Partner Conference began on Tuesday, June 19, in the Zagreb Fair Congress Hall
The conference is organized by the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia, on which participate over 200 participants, mostly of Chief of Staff level from over 50 countries – NATO members, Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and the Global Partnership Initiative.
The President of the Republic of Croatia Ivo Josipović, who in his speech stressed that the common goal of all those present and their countries was peace, stability and common good, attended the conference opening ceremony. “In the postmodern world, threats are global and asymmetric, and go beyond the boundaries of individual states. Therefore, cooperation in defence and security policies is required and necessary”, the President said, stressing the contribution that the Republic of Croatia provided through international peacekeeping operation to security of the region and the world.
ACT Commander, the French General Stephane Abrial thanked Croatia for hosting the conference. Recalling the name of the Conference, “Current and future challenges”, Abrial noted that those challenges were not addressed only within NATO, but with the circle of nations that share fundamental values and security interests of the Alliance. During the introductory speech, Abrial put special attention to NATO Partnership Policy, Connected Forces Initiative and Smart Defence.
On behalf of the Croatian Armed Forces, the present were addressed by the CAF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Drago Lovrić. He stressed the extreme importance of the Conference, which conclusions ACT would use during the process of NATO transformation. “Croatia is fully aware of the importance of joint cooperation, as evidenced by the efforts of our country in peaces support operations around the world”, General Lovrić said.
The conference is an opportunity to exchange ideas on important strategic issues, strategic implications of the NATO Summit in Chicago on the international security, regional stability and security in several world regions, and on the implications of Connected Forces Initiative, with emphasis on education and training, and joint exercises and defence industry. Furthermore, participants split in working groups would address future development of partnership among all participating countries, education and training open to all partner countries, and the strategic consequences of improvements in energy efficiency in military operations, General Lovric said in a media statement after conference opening.
General Abrial in a statement said that Croatia, three years after joining NATO, took the place of a trusted and respected member of the Alliance. The quality of work performed by Croatian soldiers in international missions, particularly in the ISAF, has earned much praise. During these years, the Croatian Armed Forces were impressively transformed, to reach national and NATO requirements, ACT Commander said, and added that he supported continuation of Croatian defence reform, developing of the capabilities to contribute to collective defence, as well as the fact that Croatia was a key factor in the development of regional cooperation.
During the conference a small exhibition, which presents an assortment of Croatian companies, manufacturers of military equipment was organized in the Congress Centre.