After the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić outlined the highlights. The talks with Georgia revolved around the Membership Action Plan (MAP) i.e. Georgia’s NATO Accession. “It was assessed that Georgia has met most of the conditions for receiving the MAP, the decision on which is expected by the NATO summit in September;” Pusić said.
The ministers also discussed the new political situation in the region as well as Georgia’s efforts to meet all of the MAP criteria. Pusić also held bilateral talks with her Georgian counterpart.
“Held today was one of the last ministerial meetings in the ISAF makeup,” the minister said. The meeting discussed the necessity of cooperating with the Afghan government after the withdrawal of ISAF, as well as the issue of not signing the bilateral security agreement and the joint forces agreement, based on which a reduced number of ISAF armed forces would remain in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is holding presidential and local elections at the end of the week, whose regularity and transparency is important in order for the government to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the public,” Pusić said. “Croatia is committed to cooperation with Afghanistan even after 2014, primarily in training and educating local security forces and in some civilian projects. At the moment, Croatia is building a hospital in Afghanistan which will be the centre for training midwives so as to help resolve the burning issues of the Afghan society - a high mortality of women giving birth. Croatia is taking part in several other projects aimed at facilitating the position of women in Afghanistan. We are hopeful that these agreements will be signed in a timely manner so that we can continue to cooperate with Afghanistan after 2014.”