Minister Pusić holds talks with US Deputy Secretary of State Burns

(Hina) - Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić said in Washington on Friday that the upcoming NATO summit in Great Britain should be a summit of enlargement

(Hina) - Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić said in Washington on Friday that the upcoming NATO summit in Great Britain should be a summit of enlargement because several Southeast European countries were ready for NATO membership or progress towards it.

Pusić made the statement after talks with Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

Croatia joined NATO together with Albania in 2009. Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia are at different stages of integration with NATO. Even though it is a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme, Serbia has declared military neutrality and does not want to join NATO.

NATO's next summit is scheduled to take place in Newport, Wales, in September.

Pusić and Burns discussed the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the recent social unrest has turned into a political rebellion against the authorities at all levels.

The transatlantic partnership is needed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it is largely a European issue and the EU must play the key role in it, said Pusic who informed Burns of Croatia's initiative on Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be discussed at the next session of the European Foreign Affairs Council.

Pusić said the initiative consisted of a specific approach towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, which should be defined by the European Commission and which would make the settlement of the "difficult and unstable situation" a part of the negotiating process rather than a condition for its opening.

The initiative would mean "much more certain and tangible EU membership prospects and would build into the negotiating process the solution of problems which are on the agenda today and which destabilise the entire region," Pusić said.

Speaking about the possibility of visa-free travel for Croatian nationals travelling to the USA, Pusić said that the high percentage of refused visa applications was mostly due to Croatian nationals living outside Croatia.

"There are several proposals, including one on information campaigns, to inform the public of what is necessary for obtaining a US entry visa so that people not meeting the criteria do not apply," Pusić said, adding that she hoped the issue would be resolved bilaterally, but that there was a possibility that it would be resolved at EU level.

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