ZAGREB, May 7 (Hina) - By becoming a full member of NATO, Croatia has achieved one of its strategic goals -- it has joined the most successful political and security organisation in the world and returned to the circle of countries where it has always belonged, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Zagreb on Thursday.
ZAGREB, May 7 (Hina) - By becoming a full member of NATO, Croatia has achieved one of its strategic goals -- it has joined the most successful political and security organisation in the world and returned to the circle of countries where it has always belonged, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Zagreb on Thursday.
The NATO Secretary-General contributed to this with his resolute leadership by being open to cooperation and strongly advocating alliance expansion to include those democracies that meet the membership criteria, Sanader said while presenting de Hoop Scheffer with the Grand Order of King Petar Kresimir IV with a Sash and a Morning Star for his outstanding contribution to the strengthening of Croatia's international position and the promotion of cooperation between NATO and Croatia.
Sanader said NATO membership was very important in these turbulent times of a global economic crisis because it would help Croatian exporters enter new markets and would also help attract new investors and encourage the development of new technologies not just in the defence sector but in all other areas of economic and social life.
Together with other Western democracies, Croatia today contributes to the stabilisation and development of Afghanistan and other hot spots. Croatian soldiers, policemen and diplomats, acting under the flag of NATO, the United Nations or the European Union, are creating conditions for a better future, for a world of tolerance, cooperation and progress, the Prime Minister said.
As a NATO member, Croatia promotes the alliance's values among its neighbours and supports all countries in Southeast Europe in the process of their Euro-Atlantic integration, he added.
Now that Croatia has become a full member of NATO, it will focus on achieving its next goal -- full membership of the European Union, Sanader said.
De Hoop Scheffer said it was a great honour for him personally and for NATO to be awarded such a high decoration, thanking the Croatian political leadership and the entire people for it.
I am proud to say that today Croatia is a strong and important member of NATO, an exporter of security and a highly proactive member of the alliance, the Secretary-General said.
De Hoop Scheffer said that membership of NATO and the EU was a key factor of lasting security and stability not only for Croatia, but also for the entire region, adding that all countries which so wish and which earn it through effort, as Croatia did, should be admitted to NATO.
In conclusion, the NATO Secretary-General expressed hope that Croatia would join the EU soon.
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