SARAJEVO, April 15 (Hina) - Ministers and senior defence ministry officials of countries participating in the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Sarajevo on Thursday called for further bolstering the peace and
stability in the region and an expedited integration of all countries in the region into Euro-Atlantic structures.
SARAJEVO, April 15 (Hina) - Ministers and senior defence ministry
officials of countries participating in the South East European
Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Sarajevo on Thursday called for further
bolstering the peace and stability in the region and an expedited
integration of all countries in the region into Euro-Atlantic
structures.#L#
"Our message is that this is indeed a historic conference as this is
the first time that defence ministers have met," Croatian Assistant
Justice Minister Jelena Grcic-Polic said.
She added that the Sarajevo meeting should also be viewed as direct
support to Bosnia-Herzegovina's efforts to reorganise its defence
system, in which she said the most important step was the fact that
Bosnia had recently appointed its first defence minister, Nikola
Radovanovic.
He said the Sarajevo conference was the result of the wish of all
countries in the region to reinforce their mutual trust and
cooperation and help one another on the road to the European Union and
NATO.
The participants in the conference came from Croatia, Bosnia, Turkey,
Greece, Serbia-Montenegro, Romania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Albania.
They signed a joint statement supporting Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Serbia-Montenegro in their efforts to join NATO's Partnership for
Peace programme, but also underlining the need for these two countries
to fully cooperate with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The defence ministers agreed as to the need for closer cooperation in
many areas, including a joint struggle against terrorism.
Serbia-Montenegro's Deputy Defence Minister Vukasin Maras told
reporters it was now "beyond doubt that the whole region speaks the
same language, the language of peace and cooperation", which he said
had been nearly inconceivable a few years back.
Addressing the conference, Albanian Defence Minister Pandeli Majko
called for the resumption of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina so
as to solve the Kosovo issue, which he said was crucial for bringing
lasting stability to the entire region.
(Hina) ha sb