Along with representatives of the signatories countries -- Croatia, Albania and Macedonia -- the two day meeting is also attended by representatives of Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro.
Mesic said cooperation under the American-Adriatic Charter would help accelerate and facilitate the process of the three countries' joining European Union defence activities.
It is evident that NATO and the European Union have lately been developing activities which in the process of stabilising the European continent and a wider region are aimed at complementing and not competing against each other, Mesic said adding that this cooperation would help Croatia adjust its defence system to NATO standards.
According to him, it is necessary to deepen intelligence cooperation and conduct more joint international exercises to facilitate individual preparations of each country for NATO membership. Mesic also advocated the establishment of a regional Partnership for Peace centre which would deal with issues important to all countries in the region such as the border control.
"For a long time, democracy in this region was regarded as an issue of other societies and cross border cooperation was interpreted as an ambition to change borders. I am confident that both approaches are the past and that by cooperating and developing democratic tenets we can work most efficiently to the benefit of our own countries and give a significant contribution to a United Europe," Mesic said and expressed conviction that the Charter was an important instrument for the implementation of values which would guarantee a safe and stable future to this region.
The Croatian Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Josip Lucic said cooperation between the armed forces of the countries in the region had been advanced.
He said each country must conduct a reform of its armed forces after which those forces would be transparent, trained and ready to participate in international missions.