JURICA: PURPOSE OF COOPERATION WITHIN AMERICAN-ADRIATIC CHARTER IS NATO ENTRY

ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - The chairpersons of the parliamentary foreign policy committees of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia met in Zagreb on Monday to discuss cooperation within the American-Adriatic Charter with the aim of getting the three countries closer to NATO.#L# "We will step up our joint efforts through parliamentary cooperation to get a clear signal for our countries at a NATO summit in Istanbul this June, but on the basis of individual achievement," the chairman of the Croatian Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, Neven Jurica, told a press conference after meeting his counterparts from Albania and Macedonia, Ilir Zela and Teuta Arifi. The meeting was also attended by Ralph Frank, the Ambassador of the United States, which co-signed the Charter in Tirana one year ago, Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul and Croatian Parliament Vice-President Luka Bebic. All three committee chairpersons said that the main purpose of this kind of cooperation was to achieve the objectives set out in the American-Adriatic Charter and the strategic goal of all three countries -- admission to NATO. "Integration is possible if our countries work hard and cooperate. We expect to receive a positive response and a clear signal in Istanbul with regard to our integration with NATO," the chairwoman of the Macedonian Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, Teuta Arifi, said. The chairman of the Albanian Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee, Ilir Zela, said he was glad to see that Croatia was well advanced in Euro-Atlantic integration processes and congratulated the Croatian officials on the positive opinion of the European Commission on Croatia's EU membership application. "We also expect promotion of cooperation in other areas such as security and the fight against organised crime in order to consolidate the democratic systems in our countries," Zela said. (Hina) vm