US-Adriatic Charter meeting starts in Zagreb

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić in Zagreb this morning opened a meeting of the partner commission of the US-Adriatic Charter (A5)

 

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić in Zagreb this morning opened a meeting of the partner commission of the US-Adriatic Charter (A5), dedicated to the process of Euro-Atlantic integration of Southeast Europe, the role of public diplomacy in the process NATO accession and the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. 

"Croatia is just finishing its six-month presidency, during which it held three important conferences. As the chair country we have has invited guests, Serbia and Kosovo, which are not members of the Charter but observers," Pusić said at the opening of the meeting. The event was attended by Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Igor Lukšić, Kosovo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ana Trišić Babić, Oliver Krliu from Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ilir Melo from Albania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Nenad Glišić, Head of the Department for the Common Security and Defence policy at Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Pusić recalled that Macedonia, which on 1 January is taking over the six-month presidency of the US-Adriatic Charter, was fully ready to join NATO together with Croatia and Albania, but encountered “obstacles because of its name”. 

The Charter was signed in Tirana in May 2003 by the foreign ministers of Albania (Ilir Meta), Macedonia (Ilinka Mitrevska) and Croatia (Tonino Picula) and then-US Secretary of State Colin Powell to speed up the process of joining NATO. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro joined the initiative in 2008. 

After bilateral talks with Pusić, Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lukšić said that the US Adriatic-Charter was a very important regional initiative and a framework that was helping Montenegro prepare for future NATO membership. He thanked Croatia for its support in Euro-Atlantic association, adding that through the frameworks of future cooperation Montenegro could follow Croatia's steps towards NATO membership. “Croatia’s full-fledged EU membership will certainly help us as well, because then we will be able to say that the EU is at our borders," said Lukšić, whose visit to Zagreb was announced for early-2013. 

Pusić said that the two countries had a number of interesting topics to talk about, stressing that those were in no way political issues that would represent an obstacle in relations, but ways to facilitate communication between people and goods once Croatia joins the EU. Commenting on the border regime, Lukšić agreed that Montenegrin citizens were already enjoying simplified crossing procedures.

FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ Meeting of the Partnership Commission of the U.S. – Adriatic Charter

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