Minister Pusic on NATO foreign ministers meeting 4-5 December 2012
After the end of the two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers that began yesterday in Brussels, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic discussed the meeting's topics.
Minister Pusic on NATO foreign ministers meeting 4-5 December 2012
After the end of the two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers that began yesterday in Brussels, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic discussed the meeting's topics. Recalling that this had been the last meeting to see the attendance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the head of the U.S. diplomacy, she said the meeting had begun with talks on the NATO-Russia level, attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks focused on a permanent form of cooperation, as well as the joint fund for helicopter maintenance in Afghanistan. An unavoidable topic was also the situation in Syria.
The meeting of NATO ministers that followed discussed the cooperation between NATO members and non-members taking part in missions across the globe, of which ISAF is the most important. The meeting of the ministers of ISAF-contributing countries discussed the project of institution building and preserving a lasting peace after ISAF withdraws in 2014. Croatia focused on civil projects, namely women and girls. We took part in projects of school and library building, as well as in building the Midwifery Training Centre, which is to begin operating in spring the next year, Pusic said.
One of the topics of the Brussels meeting was NATO enlargement, as three of the four aspiring countries are from the region – Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia.
“Croatia here plays an important role as we believe that NATO membership contributes to the stabilisation of the region,” Pusic said. The meeting also discussed the Middle East, Southern Mediterranean and Georgia, the fourth NATO candidate.
Minister Pusic held bilateral talks with her Norwegian and Turkish counterparts.
With Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide she talked about the possibility of partnership through the Centre of Excellence in terms of cooperating with the countries of the region and the Southern Mediterranean in institutional transformation and reform. With her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu Minister Pusic discussed supporting the Southeast European countries along their path to NATO membership, relations in the region and the situation in Syria.
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