"There is absolutely brilliant cooperation from both sides." Jurica said in the latest issue of Diplomatic Traffic.
In this context the paper cites that "the Croatian parliament has recently decided that its sea and air space will be open to use by NATO forces."
"After 9/11, Croatia stepped up willingly to join the US-led anti-terror coalition. It wants to take an active part in the Proliferation of Security Initiative (PSI) which includes 11 countries, among which Poland is the key player. The ambassador says that Croatia is positioned to provide leadership to PSI in Southeast Europe," the paper read.
According to the interview, the Ivo Sanader government has two main foreign policy objectives: the country's admission to NATO and to the European Union.
"The target date for a formal invitation (for Croatia) to join from other NATO members is the alliance summit scheduled for 2006. Before that, Croatia has to remodel its armed forces to make them suited to NATO and, with the other A3 applicants (Albania and Macedonia), negotiate the details of accession. Ambassador Jurica is confident that Croatia can meet the schedule."
"Croatia was delayed by the fighting that bloodied the protracted breakup of Yugoslavia. But now it has been at peace for seven years and its economy is growing at a healthy pace. It has virtually eliminated poverty and it has modernized its institutions to the point that both political and economic stability are assured," the paper said.