ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Defence Minister Zeljka Antunovic said on Wednesday that the suspension of US military aid to Croatia did not mean sanctions.
ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Defence Minister Zeljka Antunovic said on
Wednesday that the suspension of US military aid to Croatia did not
mean sanctions. #L#
"First of all, Croatia is not under any kind of sanctions. Sanctions
are something else," Antunovic said during the handover of a
military complex to the Justice Ministry. She was commenting on the
possibility of the United States cancelling its military aid to
Croatia after it refused to sign an agreement on the non-
extradition of US citizens to the International Criminal Court.
Antunovic described the relations between the defence ministries
of the two countries as very good, saying that they were cooperating
as partners.
Croatia will probably be left without US budgetary aid for a certain
period of time, but that is an internal policy issue of the US which
has the right to decide to which countries it will give financial
aid. The US is a large and rich country that is helping many. It has
been helping Croatia, and I hope that it will continue helping it in
the future, Antunovic said.
What we in the Ministry find to be more important than the aid is our
partnership and cooperation and our joint efforts in preventing
terrorism and strengthening stability in the region, she said,
adding that Croatia had received about 19 million dollars since
2000 and was expecting some more equipment to be delivered.
Antunovic said that the suspension of US military aid would not
result in any significant changes in the Croatian Defence Ministry,
but that it would slightly slow down technological modernisation.
(hina) vm