Pusić: I am proud of Croatian army and police participation in ISAF

Statement by Minister Pusić after the first meeting of NATO foreign ministers

Croatia believes that the next NATO summit, set to be held in Great Britain in September 2014, should be an enlargement summit and that Montenegro and Macedonia deserve an invitation to join the alliance, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić said on Tuesday in Brussels where she is taking part in a ministerial meeting of NATO member states.

The next NATO summit will be held in Celtic Manor Resort near Cardiff on 4 and 5 September 2014, and today's ministerial meeting is the first in a series of meetings held as part of preparation for the NATO summit.

"We believe it is exceptionally important and we will most definitely insist on adding NATO enlargement to the summit's agenda. We believe that countries from our region are ready, Montenegro is most definitely ready and in my opinion Macedonia is as well. It seems that countries other than Croatia support enlargement as well and we will most definitely insist on that because we believe that this is important not only for those countries, but for the security and stability of the region," Pusić told the press.

Other NATO hopefuls are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia.

The most important topics of the summit will most definitely be the conclusion of the mission in Afghanistan, the largest mission in NATO's history which is expected to end by the end of next year.

NATO leaders urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday to swiftly sign a security pact that would enable some U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014, saying failure to do so could jeopardise security and foreign aid.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters at the meeting of alliance foreign ministers that if Karzai does not sign the security deal promptly there would be no mission.

Pusić said Croatia had been actively participating in the mission in Afghanistan adding that she was proud of the way Croatia had participated. Croatia will continue to participate in the support mission after 2014.

Pusić underlined that in cooperation with the Afghan government, Croatia was building a midwife training centre in that country, which is expected to reduce a high infant death rate.

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