Memorandum of Understanding on the Military Police School in Kabul was signed in Brussels today, on Thursday, 6 October 2011, at the NATO Headquarters by the defence ministers of Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, and part of the initiative are also Slovenia - which had earlier signed a memorandum and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is expected to sign it later.
Memorandum of Understanding on the Military Police School in Kabul was signed in Brussels today, on Thursday, 6 October 2011, at the NATO Headquarters by the defence ministers of Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, and part of the initiative are also Slovenia - which had earlier signed a memorandum and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is expected to sign it later.
"Croatia as a responsible member of NATO took the initiative in its own region, brought together countries from our region who are either members of NATO or aspirants to membership and thus in a direct way implemented what it declared at the political level when it comes to NATO and the future EU membership, and that is that Croatia will play an active, leading role and assist countries in the region to achieve their Euro-Atlantic aspirations" , Defence Minister Davor Bozinovic said before signing. "This collaboration among Croatia, BiH, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro with the support of our U.S. partner sends a message that states that have recently been the object of international peacekeeping operations today can work jointly in conflict areas in the world, and this is the message to Afghans that investment in peace and security pays off", Minister Bozinovic said. Training of trainers of police forces in Afghanistan is a direct contribution in achieving the goal of NATO's operation to train Afghan security forces to take responsibility in their country, and such contribution is one of the most sought after in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.
30 mentors for the training of Afghan military police has been currently engaged in the School of Military Police in Afghanistan, where the leading nation is Croatia, of which 21 from the Croatian Armed Forces, two from Montenegro, two from Slovenia, one from Albania, three from Macedonia, which will make the additional six instructors in 2012, while the BiH is expected to send 10 instructors during 2012.
Memorandum of Understanding was signed on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers, which ended on Thursday in Brussels. "This meeting demonstrated that NATO is an indispensable element of security in the modern world because it shows the total involvement of the Alliance in crisis areas in Afghanistan, Libya and Kosovo. In all these conflict areas, the role of NATO is now recognized as indispensable", Minister Bozinovic said. In addition to the Allied missions, ministers discussed the transformation of NATO and better coordination of all activities to, despite financial and economic crisis, increase the effectiveness of the Alliance.
Defence Minister Bozinovic held two bilateral meetings. With his Czech counterpart Alexandr Vondra he discussed the possibility of establishing joint training for helicopter pilots. That would be a joint project of the Czech Republic, Croatia, and the United States, where basic training would be performed in the Czech Republic, and advanced flight training in Croatia. It would also be an example of how countries can act together to increase the effectiveness of the Alliance, and at the same time for that capability to be less expensive, it was stressed at the meeting with the Czech defence minister. Minister of Defence Bozinovic signed a bilateral agreement on military cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries with Belgian colleague Pieter de Crem.
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