Representatives of Albania, Croatia, Macedonia and the U.S.A. signed the U.S.-Adriatic Charter...

On Friday, 2 May 2003, at 2:00 PM the representatives of Albania, Croatia, Macedonia and the U.S.A. signed the U.S.-Adriatic Charter in Tirana, Albania. The Charter, modelled on the so-called Baltic Charter, was adopted by the four states with a view to co-ordinating activities related to the adjustment to and the full membership of NATO.

By signing the Charter the four states expressed their readiness to intensify activities toward strengthening democratic reforms and national security, as well as toward increasing the prosperity and security throughout the region through political, economic, security, cultural and environmental partnership. This co-operation is based on solidarity and has not been institutionalised by signing the Charter.

For the Republic of Croatia the Charter is important because it opens a clear perspective of Croatia's full membership of NATO in the near future, based on the principle of individual evaluation of each candidate's performance.

Signing the U.S.-Adriatic Charter is a result of the efforts made by the Republic of Croatia to strengthen long-term stability in the region. Such model of regional co-operation within the process of Euro-Atlantic integration worked well for the Baltic states, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia welcomes the Charter and its signature and believes it will prove successful in this case as well.

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