MFEA hosts meeting of A5 member countries’ political directors

During 2016, Croatia is presiding over the US-Adriatic Charter (A5), an initiative for political and security cooperation in Southeast Europe

During 2016, Croatia is presiding over the US-Adriatic Charter (A5), an initiative for political and security cooperation in Southeast Europe. In light of that, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs 15 April hosted a meeting of the A5 member countries’ political directors from foreign affairs and defence ministries. The meeting was co-chaired by Assistant Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jasna Ognjanovac and Assistant Defence Minister Nikola Brzica.

The first part of the meeting saw A5 member countries’ representatives reviewing the current political and security situation in Southeast Europe, with an emphasis on the ongoing Euro-Atlantic integration processed in the aspirant countries. All participants welcomed Montenegro’s NATO invitation, which they described as yet another proof of the lasting relevance of NATO’s Open Door policy and that reforms do pay off. The officials also discussed the current security challenges in this part of Europe, to which adequate responses can only be sought through multilateral cooperation. Croatia’s representatives presented the annual activities plan, which other participants described as very ambitious and adopted it. Croatia was also hopeful that during its presidency the matter of further A5 enlargement would be taken into consideration.  

The second part of the meeting, which also saw the participation of observer countries, included a discussion on global security challenges affecting all of the Southeast European countries as well, notably the issues of terrorism and the growing concern about foreign fighters returning from conflicts in Syria and Iraq. The U.S. Department of State’s counterterrorism expert Raffi Gregorian underlined the global dimension of said phenomenon, stressing the importance of cooperation within the Charter to prevent radicalism, with a special emphasis on the need to improve the information exchange system.

The US-Adriatic Charter was founded in 2003. Its members include Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and the U.S. Participating as observers are Kosovo, Slovenia and Serbia. 

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