ZAGREB, Dec 18 (Hina) - Croatia's journey down a set course towards achieving one of the most important strategic goals of its foreign policy -- joining NATO -- has continued at a steady pace this year. The country has been
implementing the necessary reforms, it has signed the Atlantic Charter, started the second cycle of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) and is actively involved in the Partnership for Peace programme, with its officials increasingly mentioning 2006 as the year when this goal could be achieved.
ZAGREB, Dec 18 (Hina) - Croatia's journey down a set course towards
achieving one of the most important strategic goals of its foreign
policy -- joining NATO -- has continued at a steady pace this year.
The country has been implementing the necessary reforms, it has signed
the Atlantic Charter, started the second cycle of the Membership
Action Plan (MAP) and is actively involved in the Partnership for
Peace programme, with its officials increasingly mentioning 2006 as
the year when this goal could be achieved.#L#
Chronologically, the most important event in political relations
between Croatia and NATO this year occurred in March when NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson visited Zagreb. He said then that
Croatia had achieved substantial progress on its path to NATO
membership in a relatively short period of time.
A month later, the foreign ministers of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia
met in Tirana with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and signed the
Atlantic Charter. The idea for this document emerged after seven of
the ten members of the Vilnius Group were invited to join the North
Atlantic Alliance as full members, while the three that stayed outside
agreed with the United States to continue formal cooperation on their
eventual admission into NATO. At Croatia's insistence, the preamble of
the Charter underlines that the applications of the three countries
for NATO membership will be judged individually according to the
achievement of each of them. The document requires the countries to
strengthen democracy, promote minority rights, combat terrorism and
prevent cross-border crime and the smuggling of weapons of mass
destruction, continue the reform of the armed forces, and promote
military cooperation among them. By signing the document, the
Americans pledged their assistance and support.
In mid-September a naval exercise called "Cooperative Endeavour" took
place in the Hvar Channel, involving 13 member states of NATO and its
Partnership for Peace programme which contributed a total of 500
troops, ten ships and five aircraft.
The same month the second annual cycle of Croatia's participation in
the MAP began. In Brussels, Croatia presented the steps it intended to
take in the second cycle, including those aimed at resolving
outstanding issues with its neighbours, strengthening bilateral
cooperation, preparing Croatian combat units for participation in
future peace-keeping missions of the UN, NATO and the EU, and assuming
an active role in protecting human rights, promoting refugee returns
and rebuilding war-damaged housing and infrastructure. Reforms of the
justice system and the armed forces were cited as crucial points of
internal reforms. When presenting the second annual MAP, NATO
ambassadors praised Croatia's achievements in the implementation of
the first.
Previous candidate countries for NATO membership usually had to
complete three annual cycles of the MAP before receiving an invitation
for full membership, so Croatia hopes the same will happen in its
case. Croatia's third cycle will be completed in the summer of 2005,
which opens the possibility of Zagreb receiving the desired invitation
at the next NATO summit in 2006.
(Hina) vm