OHRID, Sept 27 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula on Saturday supported Serbia-Montenegro's (SCG) and Bosnia-Herzegovina's (BH) joining NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme and Membership Action Plan
(MAP).
OHRID, Sept 27 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula on
Saturday supported Serbia-Montenegro's (SCG) and Bosnia-
Herzegovina's (BH) joining NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP)
programme and Membership Action Plan (MAP). #L#
Picula voiced his support at a meeting in Macedonia's Ohrid with his
Macedonian counterpart Ilinka Mitreva and Albanian Foreign
Ministry Secretary-General Roland Dimas. They met as part of a
conference on the Adriatic Charter, under which Croatia,
Macedonia, and Albania have committed to implementing reforms
required for accession to NATO and the European Union.
The three officials said in a joint statement their countries would
strongly back SCG and BH in PfP and MAP. The three are confident
their neighbours are fully qualified for the two programmes and
that the two countries' participation in them will contribute to
European security.
Commenting on the possibility of SCG and BH joining the Adriatic
Charter, Picula told Croatian reporters the Charter was not
conceived as an exclusive or closed club. He said, however, that
before joining a country would have to meet certain criteria.
Albania's Dimas said his country supported the expansion of the
Charter.
The three officials concluded they would relay their positions to
U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell, with whom Croatia, Albania, and
Macedonia signed the Charter, to their colleagues in the Viliuns
Group, which pools NATO aspirants, as well as to their colleagues in
NATO.
The implementation of the Adriatic Charter will be debated at a
Vilnius Group summit in Bratislava next year and at a NATO summit in
Istanbul in May.
(hina) ha