U.S. – Adriatic Charter CHODs Conference

The conference was opened by the EUCOM Deputy Commander Vice Admiral Charles Martoglio and Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Drago Lovrić. The conference was also attended by the Chief of General Staff of the Republic of Albania Major General Xhemal Gjunkshi,  Deputy Chief of Joint Staff of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chief of General Staff of the Macedonian Army Major General Gorančo Koteski, Chief of General Staff of the Army of Montenegro Vice Admiral Dragan Tripke Samardžić, Chief of General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Dobran Božič, Commander of the Kosovo Security Force, Lieutenant General Kadri Kastrati and Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Admiral Bruce W. Clingan.

From the 1 July to 31 December 2012 Croatia has been chairing US-Adriatic Charter – A-5.

Chief of General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Drago Lovrić addressed the Conference participants, saying that the joint collaboration has successfully started with the first efforts in the international environment back then in 2005. It was the time when we send a first joint Albanian-Macedonian-Croatian medical team to the NATO-led ISAF operation in Afghanistan. Since then, the cooperation within the A-5 has continued with a series of activities, including joint training for ISAF, participation in exercises and by providing mentors and instructors for the School of Military Police of the Afghan National Army (ANA). General Lovrić said that the fruitful cooperation would continue and expand in the future in the area of ​​training and joint participation of our trainers and mentoring teams in international peace support operations. This will be another opportunity to improve the intensity and quality of our cooperation. In addition to the NATO-led operations, our joint participation in operations could be extended on the inclusion in the EU battle groups (EU BG) and the UN mission. – General Lovrić said.

The conference confirmed the cooperation among the member countries, the expansion of interests and areas of cooperation through the development of regional initiatives. The support to joint training and participation in regional multilateral exercises was expressed, particularly with regard to security, crisis response operations, humanitarian assistance and help in disasters, and regional approach of participation in multinational peace support operations was supported.