Enlarged ministrial meeting of U.S.-Adriatic Charter members has ended

The first day of the meeting, Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Žužul, Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva, Albanian Foreign Minister Kastriot Islami and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Asia Elisabeth Jones held the Third Meeting of the Commission for Implementation of the Charter of Partnership, at which they expressed satisfaction with the mutual co-operation and progress in the effort towards a full NATO membership. The following joint statement was reached:

Joint Statement
of the Third Meeting of the Commission for Implementation
of the Charter of Partnership
among Albania, Croatia, Macedonia and the United States of America
Brijuni, 12 November 2004

1. We, the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Republic of Albania, Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia, together with the United States Assistant Secretary of State, have met on Brijuni on the occasion of the Meeting of the Third Partnership Commission of the U.S.-Adriatic Charter of Partnership.

2. We have reaffirmed our commitment to the principles of the Charter, as well as the readiness to co-operate even more closely in order to achieve our common objective: the full integration of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia into NATO.

3. Albania, Croatia and Macedonia reiterate the strong determination to pursue and accelerate all the reforms necessary for their accession to NATO at the earliest possible date, based upon their individual merits, reinforced by their commitment to support each other in all respects on their path to membership. They express the appreciation for being able to benefit from the support of the United States in particular.

4. We welcome the conclusions of the NATO Istanbul Summit Communiqué and the reaffirmation of the Alliance’s Open Door Policy. We look very much forward to the process of a continual review of progress the three NATO aspirant countries, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, are making in the implementation of their Annual National Programmes under the Membership Action Plan, which remains the main instrument of assessing each aspirant’s readiness for membership.

5. While developing our co-operation, we will continue to put an emphasis on initiatives and projects that reinforce and advance Membership Action Plans, and create opportunities through participation in the missions, tasks and operations of the Alliance, such as ISAF in Afghanistan and NATO’s training mission in Iraq. We expect an expeditious deployment of the joint military medical team for ISAF and stand ready for exploring further contributions we can make, in accordance with our capabilities, both individually and jointly.

6. The U.S.-Adriatic Charter Partner States wish to engage more closely and actively all regional NATO Member States in the Charter co-operation, building upon its successes, with the purpose of stimulating a continuing, efficient NATO Enlargement process.

7. We consider our co-operation to be an important instrument for promoting regional security and prosperity. Sharing profoundly the aim of integrating the entire region into the European and Euro-Atlantic mainstream, we will continue to support most actively Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro , strongly encouraging them in their reform efforts, notably by including them, wherever and whenever possible, in the activities of the Charter, as demonstrated by their Minister’s participation at this meeting of an enlarged U.S.-Adriatic Charter. In particular, we will support and assist Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro in their efforts to fulfil, as soon as possible, the conditions to join NATO’s Partnership for Peace Programme.

The second day of the meeting, foreign affairs ministers of the Charter members were joined by high delegations from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro led by Foreign Affairs Ministers Mladen Ivanić and Vuk Drašković, delegations from NATO and seven NATO members: Bulgaria, the Hellenic Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Italy and Turkey.

Members of the Charter reiterated their determination to continue fulfilling the conditions for a full NATO membership, which was firmly supported by delegations from other countries taking part at he Brijuni meeting.

All participants expressed their joint support to the efforts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro in meeting the conditions for entering the Partnership for Peace, communicating their joint belief that through the process of Euro-Atlantic integrations stability and security in the region can be achieved.