The Adriatic Trilateral held its fourth meeting 20 December 2019 in Zadar, with North Macedonia attending as the guest. The foreign ministers of Croatia, Albania and Montenegro discussed EU enlargement, Euro-Atlantic integration and regional cooperation.
Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman, Albanian Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Gent Cakaj, state secretary at Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Radulović and North Macedonian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrej Žernovski underlined the importance of additional strengthening of cooperation, which is founded on excellent bilateral relations and contributes to the stability and security in this part of Europe.
The meeting was held ahead of the start of Croatia’s EU presidency. Grlić Radman informed his counterparts about all aspects of this extremely important and responsible task for Croatia.
“The central event will be the Zagreb Summit of 7 May 2020, which will bring together heads of state from the EU and the Western Balkans. We want this summit, taking place 20 years after the Zagreb Summit that opened European prospects for Croatia and the entire Southeast Europe, to be an equal landmark for the EU, candidates and potential candidates in the years to come,” Grlić Radman said.
The ministers underlined that Croatia would do all it can to launch accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia during its EU presidency and that we expected to see further headway in talks with Montenegro.
“We will also push for the progress of other Southeast European countries on their European journey, based on the principle of meeting the criteria and individual merit. Croatia will continue to support European aspiration of these countries and lend its technical and expert assistance”, Grlić Radman said. The ministers underscored support for the completion of North Macedonia’s NATO accession.