Press Release
on the occasion of the Informal Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany
Durres, 5 April 2005
The Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Germany is held in the framework of an enhanced cooperation of our countries furthering the process of integration into NATO and the EU. On behalf of my colleagues, Mrs. Mitreva, Mrs. Grabar-Kitarović, Mr. Ivanić and Mr. Drašković, I would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Fischer for his participation in the Meeting as a confirmation of the sustained assistance and support of his country for the integration of the region into NATO and the EU.
This Meeting confirmed that we share the same views on the necessity to deepen the overall reforms for the fulfilment of the required standards for NATO and EU membership. We believe that this aspiration will provide the impetus for development and prosperity of our countries and will further consolidate the security, stability and peace in the region.
The cooperation within the framework of the Adriatic Charter, alongside with many other regional initiatives, aims to support and speed up our reforms that will progressively lead to the accomplishment of our strategic goal: NATO and EU membership. This meeting once again confirmed that the regional cooperation of our countries remains a strong mechanism of deepening the democratic, institutional, economic, and defense reforms, aiming to accelerate integration of each and every South-East European country into NATO and EU structures. We reiterated that the regional cooperation is a crucial element of integration of our countries into NATO and the EU.
The meeting was a unique opportunity to discuss and exchange views and experiences with H.E. Minister Fischer, on the economic, political and social realities, as well as on the challenges ahead of us, for the accomplishment of our strategic goal of enhancing security, stability and prosperity in the region.
We welcomed the positive messages of the Alliance for the membership perspectives of the three aspiring countries, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, reconfirmed in the last NATO Summit. We are confident that the next NATO Summit will recognize our progress and will invite us to start accession talks for NATO membership.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia strongly support the accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro to NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme, as soon as possible, while encouraging strongly their efforts in fulfilling the required criteria. We consider their participation in this program as an added value to the regional stability and security.
This is a challenging year for all our countries engaged in the Stabilization and Association Process with the European Union. We expressed our strong belief, that Croatia will open accession negotiations with the European Union; Macedonia will receive a positive Opinion by the Commission on its membership application this autumn; Albania will conclude and sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Serbia and Montenegro will open the negotiations on the SAA. This year will also be important for the talks on Kosovo's future status, a status which aims at the European future of Kosovo. We consider that it will have a direct impact on the improvement of security and stability in the region.
We have agreed that the meetings of such a format have proven to be important and productive ones and should continue in the nearest future, because they constitute an added value to the overall efforts of our countries for integration into NATO and EU structures.