The first Croatia Summit in Dubrovnik was held July 2006 under the title Completing Europe’s Southern Dimension: The Values that Bind Us. In October the previous year Croatia had launched the EU entry talks and made progress in NATO accession. The first Croatia Summit was dedicated to security issues and the Euro-Atlantic integration process. The following year, 2007, Croatia Summit was again dedicated to the security and stability of Europe’s southeast as well as to the NATO enlargement process. Heads of state and government as well as foreign and defence ministers discussed on the topic of Europe’s New South. Security, Development and Prosperity was the topic of the third Croatia Summit held 2008, only months after Croatia had been invited to join NATO. Europe’s Strategic Imperative - Energy, Investment and Development was the theme of Croatia Summit 2009. In April the same year Croatia became a full-fledged NATO member. Croatia Summit 2010 focused on global challenges from the region’s perspective and was themed Southeast Europe Facing Global Challenges, while the next one in 2011, held a few days after the closing of the EU negotiations, dealt with the future under A New Decade for Southeast Europe – the End of Transition. State Building and the EU Experience was the topic of Croatia Summit 2012. It is precisely the state building process and not membership per se that is the key result of Croatia’s negotiations. Equally so, the know-how and experience gained in that process as well as the individuals involved form the basis of the Centre of Excellence – a project aimed at transferring that know-how to the countries in the region and beyond, to the countries of the Southern Mediterranean.
