Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia and ministers Ilinka Mitreva of Macedonia, Kastriot Islami of Albania, Mladen Ivanic of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Vuk Draskovic of Serbia and Montenegro stated that they shared the same stands on the need to deepen overall reforms with the aim of meeting EU and NATO membership standards.
Regional cooperation is a strong instrument for the strengthening of democratic, economic, institutional and military reforms with the aim of joining the Alliance and the European bloc, the ministers said in their joint declaration.
The officials expressed conviction that the accession of their countries to the said organisations would help in the countries' development and strengthening of security, stability and peace in the region.
We express our firm conviction that Croatia will start negotiations with the European Union this year, the ministers said, adding that they hoped Macedonia would be given a positive opinion of the European Commission on its membership application, that Albania would conclude and sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement and that Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as Serbia and Montenegro would start talks on Stabilisation and Association Agreements.
The officials agreed that this year would also be crucial for Kosovo's final status.