DUBROVNIK, March 7 (Hina) - Croatia, Albania and Macedonia on Friday expressed a desire to continue cooperating in view of drawing closer to NATO and supported an active fight against terrorism, urging Iraq to fulfil the provisions of
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441.
DUBROVNIK, March 7 (Hina) - Croatia, Albania and Macedonia on
Friday expressed a desire to continue cooperating in view of
drawing closer to NATO and supported an active fight against
terrorism, urging Iraq to fulfil the provisions of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1441. #L#
"At the Prague Summit we decided not to get discouraged. We decided
to get better-organised so that we could take advantage of the open-
door policy that we were promised," said Croatian Foreign Minister
Tonino Picula.
He spoke at a joint news conference he held in Dubrovnik with his
Albanian counterpart Ilir Meta and Macedonia's Ilinka Mitreva.
At a meeting attended by the United States Ambassador to Croatia,
Lawrence Rossin, the three harmonised the final details of a
cooperation charter they should sign with U.S. State Secretary
Colin Powell in Washington.
Picula, Meta and Mitreva adopted a joint statement calling on Iraq
to "fully and unconditionally" meet the demands of Resolution 1441
or "face the consequences".
Ambassador Rossin said the U.S. administration actively and
unambiguously supported the three countries' bids to join NATO.
It is very important to actively promote the open-doors policy, he
said.
Albania's Meta said the objective of Croatia-Albania-Macedonia
cooperation was to "get ready to be invited to NATO in the next
enlargement round". Tirana "trusts its partners and a strong
partnership with the U.S., which has played a fundamental role in
the founding of NATO".
Croatia, Albania and Macedonia will continue cooperating in other
areas as well, including transborder cooperation, the improvement
of border control, the combating of organised crime, and the
development of economic cooperation, he said.
Commenting on some sceptical statements about Croatia's NATO
entry, Picula said "neutrality as a concept does not suit" Zagreb.
"It's not enough to cooperate with EU members alone, one also has to
cooperate with neighbours... as well as with transatlantic
partners."
Picula said the Dubrovnik joint statement should not "provoke
anyone on the European continent any further," and that Croatia
must show double responsibility regarding Iraq. On the one hand
there is responsibility to the domestic public, which strongly
opposes war, and on the other to its international commitments, he
said.
The U.S. ambassador welcomed the statement, particularly the part
in which the three countries support the fight against terrorism
and call on Iraq to disarm.
The U.S. administration will certainly applaud the statement's
call for complying with Resolution 1441 and especially the warning
to the Iraqi regime.
The U.S. strongly applauds the statement, said Rossin.
(hina) ha sb