The Seminar, which was organised on the occasion of Croatia’s presidency of the American – Adriatic Charter, was attended by the participants of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Ministries of Defence of Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia. The Seminar was opened by the Director General of the Directorate for Multilateral Affairs Mario Nobilo, and State Secretary for European Integration Andrej Plenković was also present at the introductory part.

One of leading NATO experts for public diplomacy and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General Michael Stopford and Director for the Regional Programme for Europe at the International Republican Institute Patrick Egan participated in the seminar as lecturers.

Besides the lectures on the public dimension of Croatia’s participation in peace operations, participants had a chance to see the results of the survey on the opinion of Croatian citizens on NATO. The survey was conducted for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, on the occasion of the first anniversary of Croatian membership in NATO. The results of the survey showed that 64.6% of Croatian citizens feel more secure as citizens of a NATO member country, and 62.6% believe that NATO and new countries potentially becoming NATO members are important for security and stability of the south–eastern European region. Furthermore, 54.1% respondents believe that the participation of the Republic of Croatia in NATO missions under the UN mandate contributes to strengthening its security and international position, while 68.3% personally support the help given by the international community to the people of Afghanistan, within the mission ISAF framework, allowing them to build a more secure and stable country.

National presentations of activities in the area of public relations and public diplomacy that are related to NATO will also be held at the seminar.

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