"We are ready to actively participate in NATO operations in line with the alliance's needs, our resources and legal procedure," the national coordinator for NATO, Pjer Simunovic, said at a news briefing held on the occasion of a meeting of foreign ministers from the US-Adriatic Charter member-countries and delegations from countries in the region, which will take place on the northern Croatian Adriatic archipelago of Brijuni this weekend.
The meeting will address concrete forms of joint and individual contribution to NATO operations.
This is a regular quarterly meeting of the commission in charge of implementation of the Charter, which was signed in Tirana in 2002 by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and the then foreign ministers of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.
The meeting will also be attended by the foreign ministers of Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Vuk Draskovic and Mladen Ivanic respectively, which is a sign of Croatia's wish to support the two countries on their road to Partnership for Peace and NATO, Simunovic said.
Simunovic said that the member-countries of the US-Adriatic Charter were actively preparing for participation in NATO operations by establishing joint military teams, holding joint exercises and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
For example, in the first half of next year, an 11-strong military-medical team from the three countries is expected to leave for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan, Simunovic said.
Croatia has entered the so far most dynamic stage of cooperation with NATO, which it hopes to join in 2007 or 2008, he said.
Croatia's contribution to NATO operations has been significant, the national NATO coordinator said, recalling that a fourth Croatian police platoon was in Afghanistan, that Iraqi forensic experts had undergone training in Croatia and that several Iraqi children were being medically treated in Croatia.
A team consisting of one diplomat and two police inspectors from Croatia will be sent to northern Afghanistan in early December to take part in a German regional team for reconstruction, Simunovic said, adding that Croatia was considering expansion of its military engagement in that country.
Commenting on the NATO-sponsored training of Iraqi security forces, Simunovic said that Croatia had not been requested to take part in that so far.
Simunovic presented a government plan according to which in the 2004-2005 period Croatia would meet all requirements for an invitation to join NATO. The country expects the invitation at the next NATO summit, which would be held most probably in mid 2006.
After the invitation, accession talks would be launched, similarly to the procedure of admission to the European Union, Simunovic said, adding that it was realistic for Croatia to join NATO in 2007 or 2008.